The bench stated that no order will be issued as the issues raised by the petitioners have already become irrelevant in the present context as the Regmi government has already conducted the Constituent Assembly elections and the assembly has already promulgated a new constitution replacing the Interim Constitution.However, the bench was divided over whether the move to appoint chief justice as the head of the executive was right or wrong. While Chief Justice Kalyan Shrestha and seniormost justice Sushila Karki termed the appointment inappropriate from the point of view of constitutionalism and it was not as per the 'scheme' of the Interim Constitution.
"Since the course the country has taken cannot be undone in its entirety, there is no need to issue any order on the petitions but the appointment of chief justice as the head of the executive was not within the 'scheme' of the Interim Constitution. We, the two justices, have concluded that we should not under any circumstance, fail to issue a directive to the defendants so that such a step is not repeated again," said Chief Justice Shrestha from the bench.
On the other hand, majority of the justices in the bench -- namely Baidyanath Upadhyaya, Gopal Parajuli and Om Prakash Mishra -- stated that there is no need to comment or make remarks on the political move since it was the starting point of the Constituent Assembly and the present Nepal Constitution.
"We, the three justices, agreed only to the portion of quashing the writ petitions in the changed context but we refused to comment on the move, which is the foundation of the present constitution. Commenting on something that is no longer of relevance could cast the entire process of promulgating new constitution in a negative light," said Justice Upadhyaya from the bench.
The technocratic government led by the then chief justice was formed on March 14, 2013 solely to hold the CA election and it conducted the election on November 19 the same year. Regmi was appointed as chairman of the Interim Election Council following President Ram Baran Yadav´s order to remove constitutional hurdles for the appointment.
The apex court on September 19, 2013 had conducted first hearing on the writ petitions, six months after the appointment of Regmi as the chairman of the Interim Election Council and the second hearing on October 1, 2013.
Advocates Chandra Kanta Gyawali, Om Prakash Aryal, Kanchan Krishna Neupane, Subhas Acharya, Gopal Shiwakoti Chintan, Chairman of Lok Kalyankari Janata Party Kishori Mahato, Amar KC of Nepal Rastriya Loktantrik Dal and advocate Bharat Mani Jangam had filed writ petitions then naming the president´s office, chairman of the Interim Election Council, UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the then Nepali Congress (NC) President Sushil Koirala, the then Chairman of CPN-UML Jhalanath Khanal and Madhesi People´s Rights Forum-Democratic Chairman Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar among others as defendants.
The technocratic government had conducted the election of Constituent Assembly on November 19, 2013 and the Constituent Assembly on September 20, 2015 had promulgated new Nepal Constitution.
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