Chief Justice Raut forms Constitutional Bench after long gap

Kathmandu, December 4 — Chief Justice Prakashman Singh Raut has formed a constitutional bench after a long period of time. The bench, consisting of Chief Justice Raut and judges Sapana Pradhan Malla, Kumar Regmi, Hari Prasad Phuyal, and Manoj Kumar Sharma, is scheduled to hear a case today.

There are 16 cases listed for hearing in the constitutional bench today. Among these, one case involves advocate Basanta Joshi, in which the Election Commission has been made the respondent. The case is a writ petition filed against Arun Kumar Chaudhary, a member of the House of Parliament from the Nagarik Unmukti Party (NUP), who was elected despite having committed offenses during the election period.

The writ demands that he be suspended from his position as an MP, as it has been revealed that he had no criminal charges against him at the time of the election and had not served any prison sentence.

However, in January 2023, he was arrested again in connection with this controversy. Chaudhary, who was elected as an MP from Kailali Constituency No. 2, was handed over to the Kailali District Court, where he was remanded to prison.

Chaudhary was also caught in a case related to arson, where he was found guilty by the court and remained a fugitive until his arrest in Banke.

He had been convicted in 2013 for setting fire to a tractor. The case was filed by Mahadev Bajgain at the Kailali District Court on the charge of burning tractor No. Lu 2 Ta 211 on August 19, 2009.