Kathmandu, Oct 14 (IANS) Nearly a dozen writ petitions were filed at Nepal’s Supreme Court on Tuesday challenging the appointment of Sushila Karki as the new Prime Minister and the dissolution of the House of Representatives.

On September 12, President Ram Chandra Poudel appointed former Chief Justice Karki as the Prime Minister and, based on her recommendation, dissolved the Lower House while announcing fresh elections for March 5 next year.

“As many as 10 writ petitions were brought to the Supreme Court on Tuesday challenging the constitutionality of Karki’s appointment as Prime Minister and the dissolution of the lower house, with many of them demanding its reinstatement,” Nirajan Pandey, Assistant Spokesperson at the Supreme Court, told IANS. “We have not yet registered them, and a necessary decision will be taken after studying the writ petitions.”

One of the writs, filed by lawyer Yubaraj Poudel, argues that the Constitution bars Karki from becoming the country’s Prime Minister.

Karki was not appointed under Article 76 of the Constitution, which provides for the election of a Prime Minister, but under Article 61, which outlines the President’s duty to safeguard national unity and ensure the implementation of the Constitution.

The writ also cites the constitutional provision that former Supreme Court justices cannot hold government positions after retirement. Article 132(2) of the Constitution states that no person who has once held the office of Chief Justice or Judge of the Supreme Court shall be eligible for appointment to any government office, except as otherwise provided in the Constitution.

Likewise, the writ demands the reinstatement of the lower house, arguing that it was dissolved without following constitutional provisions. It also urges the Supreme Court to issue an order reinstating the house so that impeachment proceedings can be initiated against the President for serious violation of the Constitution.

Legal experts have said that Karki’s appointment was made based on the “doctrine of necessity” instead of a constitutional process — a long-held practice in Nepal during times of political crisis, including after the recent Gen-Z movement.

Constitutional lawyer Bipin Adhikari earlier told IANS that Karki was appointed Prime Minister based on the principle of necessity, a system repeatedly practiced in Nepal since the 1950 revolution. “But the principle of necessity is not the rule of law. If we abandon the Constitution under one pretext or another, a habit of violating it develops, which may create more problems in the future,” he said.

The writ petitions come at a time when the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), or CPN (UML), has been demanding the reinstatement of the dissolved House, calling its dissolution unconstitutional. The new government was formed by ousting the government led by UML Chairperson KP Sharma Oli.

In 2013, a writ petition was filed seeking an interim order against the appointment of then Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi as Chairperson of the Council of Ministers. However, the Supreme Court did not hear the writ until Regmi had already run the government for 11 months, and the case remained pending for four years.

During his tenure, Regmi conducted the second Constituent Assembly elections in 2013. On March 28, 2016, the Supreme Court ruled that the writ had lost its relevance and that there was no need to issue an interim order.

Meanwhile, Nepali Congress President and former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba appeared in public on Tuesday during a meeting of the party’s central committee in Kathmandu. In his address to party members, he recalled the incidents that occurred during the Gen-Z protests, including attacks on him and his family members. “The attacks on me and my family were aimed at taking our lives,” he said while thanking the security personnel assigned to protect him.

As Gen-Z protesters demanded the exit of key leaders of major parties — CPN (UML) Chairperson KP Sharma Oli, Nepali Congress President Deuba, and CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ — from national politics, Deuba announced that he would no longer run for the party presidency in the next general convention. Several Nepali Congress leaders have demanded that the next general convention be held as early as possible.

–IANS

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