CJ Rana constitutes Constitutional Bench to hear writ petitions against Citizenship Ordinance

KATHMANDU, June 4: Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JBR has constituted a five-member Constitutional Bench under his leadership to conduct hearings over the writ petitions, which were filed against the Citizenship Ordinance. 

The Bench comprises Supreme Court (SC) Justices Dipak Kumar Karki, Mira Khadka, Hari Krishna Karki and Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada besides Rana. After the Bench formed to hear the writ petitions against House dissolution was dragged into controversy, CJ Rana picked the justices on the basis of their seniority. 

After President Bidya Devi Bhandari issued the Ordinance on Citizenship on May 23, at the recommendation of the Cabinet,  a day after she dissolved the lower House of parliament, a total of six writ petitions have been registered at the Supreme Court (SC)  claiming that the ordinance does not go in line with the spirits of the Constitution of Nepal. 

The petitioners have demanded the dismissal of the ordinance.