KATHMANDU, April 27: The Supreme Court (SC) has demanded pleading notes in the writ petition filed against National Assembly member Bamdev Gautam.
The order was passed by the Constitutional Bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Hari Krishna Karki sought the legal brief two years after the writ petition was filed at the apex court. Justices Bishwambhar Prasad Shrestha, Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada, Anand Mohan Bhattarai and Anil Kumar Sinha are the members of the Constitutional Bench.
Writ petition filed against Rabi Lamichhane
After Gautam was nominated as a member of the National Assembly, a writ petition was filed against him in the SC. Senior advocate Dinesh Tripathi and advocate Badri Raj Bhatta filed the writ petition against Gautam on September 28, 2020.
Gautam was defeated in the 2074 BS House of Representatives elections from Bardia-1. Then, on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers, the then President Bidhya Devi Bhandari had nominated him as a member of the National Assembly.
A writ petition has been registered against Gautam saying that a person who was defeated in the House of Representatives cannot be nominated to the National Assembly in the same term. They claimed that the President can only nominate experts, but not politicians. There was talk of making Gautam a minister at that time. The writ petitioner had demanded that Gautam should not be appointed as a minister as well.
On November 11, 2020, the SC had refused to issue an interim order as requested by the writ petitioner. The Constitutional Bench comprising then Chief Justice Cholendra SJB Rana, Justices Deepak Kumar Karki, Hari Krishna Karki, Bishwambhar Prasad Shrestha and Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada ordered that there was no need to issue an interim order. The hearing of the case, which was deferred for four times, was held on Wednesday.
