KATHMANDU, June 4: The Supreme Court is holding a full court meeting of all justices today to discuss various issues including the amendment of the regulation related to the conduct of the Constitutional Bench. The meeting will also discuss the services to be provided by the court during the prohibitory period.
The time limit for the decision of the full court regarding the services to be provided in the prohibitory period is coming to an end on Friday. The question arose after a constitutional bench was formed by picking justices not on the basis of seniority to decide on the case related to the dissolution of the House of Representatives. The 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.
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After the justices under question Tej Bahadur KC and Bamkumar Shrestha decided not to leave the bench, two other justices picked for the constitutional bench also chose to opt out of the bench. This has forced Chief Justice Rana to reconstitute the constitutional bench to hear on the writ petitions filed against the dissolution of parliament.
The bench is about to be reconstituted after Justices Deepak Kumar Karki and Ananda Mohan Bhattarai announced that they will not stay on the bench on moral ground as KC and Shrestha showed determination not to leave the bench.
After the dispute, the Supreme Court Bar Association had proposed to form another bench on the basis of seniority and expertise in the constitutional Bench. It is said that the draft will be submitted to the full court meeting of the apex court as the rules related to the conduct of the constitutional bench need to be amended. Officials including Purna Man Shakya, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, had reached the apex court on Tuesday.
Earlier, the Chief Justice Rana was advised to pick justices in the constitutional bench on the basis of seniority and expertise. As the rules of procedure of the constitutional bench have to be amended for that, Chief Justice Rana has given the responsibility to prepare the draft to Chief Registrar Lal Bahadur Kunwar. If the rules are amended according to seniority and expertise of the justices as suggested by the Supreme Court Bar, the bench will be appointed on the basis of seniority.
