An emergency meeting of the NBA Working Committee held in the capital on Friday, also demanded that the apex court ensure it will not in future quash any writ petition without conducting hearings on it. [break]
The NBA decision comes a day after the SC quashed 17 writ petitions relating to the president´s orders on removing constitutional difficulties.
Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi was appointed chairman of the Interim Election Council on March 14, following President Ram Baran Yadav´s orders removing constitutional hurdles.
“We will take strong measures if our concerns are not addressed within the next seven days,” NBA General Secretary Sunil Pokhrel told Republica after the meeting.
Asked what he meant by strong measures, Pokhrel said they would boycott the bench of the three justices [including the acting chief justice] who issued Thursday´s order.
According to the NBA general secretary, the meeting also decided to wear black bands across the mouth and stage sit-ins at court premises across the country from 11 am to 12 noon on Sunday.
Pokhrel said NBA took Friday´s decision after holding consultations with advisors and former office-bearers. A full bench of Acting Chief Justice Damodar Prasad Sharma and Justices Prakash Wasti and Tarka Raj Bhatta on Thursday issued the order to quash the petitions on which no hearings have been conducted.
The bench had ruled that the writ petitions shared issues with seven other petitions also related to the presidential order and which were filed from March 14 onwards. The apex court is scheduled to conduct hearings on the seven writ petitions from September 19.
Requested to comment on the NBA decision, SC spokesperson Shrikant Poudel said that he could comment on the issue only after they officially received the NBA decision.
However, Poudel maintained that it was not necessary to object to SC´s Thursday order as a 10-member special bench had already been ordered to conduct hearings on the seven writ petitions that will also address issues raised in the 17 petitions.
NBA has said that SC´s Thursday order has rendered matters more serious as the move was against the principle of natural justice and the universally accepted principle of fair hearings.
In its strong worded statement issued after the meeting, NBA said that Thursday´s order has made a mockery of judicial independence in Nepal.
“We have concluded that the arbitrary style of the order to quash the 17 writ petitions related to serious issues in just 10 minutes without even the participation of lawyers is a disgrace for the judiciary itself and shows contempt for the court,” it is stated.
NBA claimed that the SC´s Thursday order has raised a question mark over the work performance of the three justices.
NBA condemns raid on Thapa´s law firm
The NBA meeting also condemned the raid carried out by the Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI) on the law firm of its former president and senior advocate Shambhu Thapa on Friday.
The meeting claimed that the move was in revenge against Thapa as he has been opposing the ´unconstitutional´ appointments and activities that have been taking place following the president´s order on removing constitutional difficulties.
Terming the raid ´illegal´ and ´improper´, NBA has demanded that no further action be taken against Thapa, and the documents seized from his law firm returned.
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