KATHMANDU, June 8: The Supreme Court (SC), following initial hearings on a writ petition filed against the ‘unconstitutional’ Cabinet reshuffle, refused to issue an interim-order as demanded by the petitioners, on Tuesday.
A single bench of SC Justice Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada, however, ordered both the petitioners and the defendants to be present at the next hearing on June 22, which will discuss questions raised by the petitioners.
Mahaseth rules out immediate cabinet reshuffle
The apex court also ordered the defendants including the Office of President, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM) to furnish a written response within 15 days.
Legal practitioners including Senior Advocate Dinesh Tripathi and Advocate Kanchan Krishna Neupane jointly filed the writ petition at the SC on Monday.
The petitioners maintained the Oli-led caretaker government could not expand or reshuffle the cabinet and demanded the apex court scrap the Cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Oli.
Earlier on Friday, last week, PM Oli reshuffled the cabinet, inducting 10 leaders from Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) and two others from his own party, CPN-UML. He relieved all ministers from his party except four.