Hearing over House dissolution case to continue tomorrow

KATHMANDU, May 30: Hearing over the writ petitions, which were filed against the dissolution of the House of Representatives (HoR), at the Constitutional Bench was concluded for Sunday. 

The five-member Bench led by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher has been hearing the petitions since Friday. 

Chief Justice Rana on Friday formed the Bench including the justices of the Supreme Court (SC) --- Dipak Kumar Karki, Dr Aanand Mohan Bhattarai, Tej Bahadur KC and Bam Kumar Shrestha--- under his leadership. 

As many as 30 writ petitions were filed at the apex court terming President Bidya Devi Bhandari’s move to dissolve the House as unconstitutional. 

Sunday’s hearing, however, did not enter into the issue of House dissolution. It witnessed a heated debate between the lawyers of both the plaintiffs and defendants over the issue of the formation of the Constitutional Bench. As petitioners raised questions over the formation of the Bench, Chief Justice Rana allotted one hour each to both the sides to debate on the issue. 

President Bidya Devi Bhandari, upon the recommendation of the Council of Ministers, dissolved parliament on May 22 as per Article 76 (7) of the Constitution of Nepal.