KATHMANDU, Mar 5: The Supreme Court has deferred the hearing on the case filed against three nominated National Assembly members for Monday. 

The hearing on the case was assigned to a joint bench of justices Hari Krishna Karki and Prakash Man Singh Raut on Sunday. 

The bench postponed the case for Monday after Baburam Joshi, advocate of the petitioners, argued that the case cannot been overseen by both the justices as Justice Raut himself had issued an interim order in the case last week and Justice Karki was the attorney general during the KP Oli-led government in the past and may arise conflict of interest. According to an official at the SC, the case will be now assigned to other justices on Monday.    

On February 25, a single bench of Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut had issued the interlocutory interim order halting the swearing-in of upper house members Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada, Ram Narayan Bidari and Bimala Paudel-Rai proposed by the Oli government and summoned the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers and the Secretariat of the Federal Parliament to attend the court on Sunday to discuss whether or not to extend the interlocutory order.

The bench was responding to a writ petition filed by Gopal Kumar Basnet, Krishna Prasad Paudel and Chadani Joshi who were nominated as upper house members by the erstwhile Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government. In the petition, the petitioners had demanded a mandamus order annulling the new appointments made by the current government and appointing themselves to the posts.

The Office of the President, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the Federal Parliament Secretariat and the National Assembly were mentioned as the defendants in the case.

The erstwhile Sher Bahadur Deuba government had recommended the writ petitioners on February 11 but the President's Office sat on the recommendation stating that the government made the recommendation unilaterally without consulting other political parties.

The Oli government then withdrew the names and recommended three new names. 
Due to the interim order from the SC, the three nominated members of the upper houses could not take the oath of office on Sunday.

 
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