KATHMANDU, June 6: Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher JB Rana has formed a Constitutional Bench to hear the case against the dissolution of the House of Representatives. The bench has been formed on the basis of seniority and expertise of the Supreme Court Justices.
The new Constitutional Bench consists of justices Dipak Kumar Karki, Dr Anand Mohan Bhattarai, Mira Dhungana, Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada and the chief justice himself. Following the illness of Justice Bishwambhar Prasad Shrestha, his successor justices Bhattarai and Khatiwada were included in the constitutional bench.
Earlier, the hearing was affected due to a dispute in the formation of the bench. Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher JB Rana had said that a Constitutional Bench would be formed on June 6 to hear the cases related to the dissolution of the House of Representatives.
CJ Rana agrees to reconstitute Constitutional Bench on basis of...
Chief Justice Rana had picked justices Dipak Kumar Karki, Dr Aanand Mohan Bhattarai, Tej Bahadur KC and Bam Kumar Shrestha for the bench to hear more than two dozen petitions registered against the ‘unconstitutional’ dissolution.
A controversy erupted after a lawyer of Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba raised questions over two justices picked as members of the Constitutional Bench in view of their previous decision on the case of reviewing the CPN unity and registration.
After the justices under question, Tej Bahadur KC and Bam Kumar Shrestha, decided not to leave the bench, two other justices picked for the Constitutional Bench chose to opt out of the bench. This forced Chief Justice Rana to reconstitute the bench to hear the writ petitions filed against the dissolution of parliament.
After the dispute, the Supreme Court Bar Association had proposed forming another Constitutional Bench on the basis of seniority and expertise of justices.
