KATHMANDU, Feb 2:  Lawyers defending Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s move to dissolve the House of Representatives on December 20 last year at the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court have said that the prime minister enjoys the prerogative to dissolve parliament in a country with the parliamentary system like Nepal.

During the hearing at the Constitutional Bench in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, senior advocate Sushil Pant, who was pleading against the writ petitions registered at the apex court seeking reinstatement of the House of Representatives (HoR), argued that the prime minister has the special right to dissolve parliament to maintain discipline in the House.

According to Pant, Nepal’s prime minister is also entitled with that special right as the country has adopted the parliamentary system of governance. “The constitution and laws should explicitly mention if he [PM] cannot use his prerogative to dissolve parliament,” he argued. The prime minister automatically inherits the right to dissolve the legislature parliament in a parliamentary system like ours, he added.

He reiterated that the prime minister can use the ‘right to dissolve and dismiss’ — dissolve parliament and dismiss ministers of his cabinet.

As many as 13 writ petitions have been registered at the top court against PM Oli’s move to dissolve the 275-member HoR.

 
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