Miscellaneous
Apex court stays oath ceremony of 3 NA members
The Supreme Court on Sunday issued a short-term interim order to the government not to administer oath of office and secrecy to the newly nominated three members of the National Assembly by the KP Sharma Oli-led government.The Supreme Court on Sunday issued a short-term interim order to the government not to administer oath of office and secrecy to the newly nominated three members of the National Assembly by the KP Sharma Oli-led government.
A single bench of Justice Prakashman Singh Raut directed the government not to administer the oath of office and secrecy to the newly nominated NA members Yubaraj Khatiwada, Ram Narayan Bidari and Bimala Poudel. The oath taking ceremony of the recently elected NA members was scheduled for March 4.
“Since the President does not have any constitutional grounds to reject the names recommended by the erstwhile government, the short-term interim order has been issued,” the court order says. It has also stated that the President does not hold any executive power in the nomination of national assembly members.
As soon as he was elevated to lead the government on February 20, PM Oli had recommended the President to nominate Khatiwada, Bidari and Rai as members of the National Assembly.
On February 9, the previous government under NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba had recommended Gopal Kumar Basnet, Chadani Joshi and Krishna Prasad Poudel but President Bidya Devi Bhandari had dumped the recommendation.
Citing that as a wrong move, Basnet, Joshi and Poudel had filed a writ petition at the apex court.
The SC has also summoned both the parties of the case for discussions on March 4.
Out of the total 59 members in the NA, 56 members were elected from seven provinces while three were nominated by the President on the government’s recommendation.
A senior UML leader said the legal process would take its own course and the discussions will take place on March 4. However, they claimed that there had been such instances in the past, claimed UML leader Bhanubhakta Dhakal. “We have the precedence and practices of revoking the decisions of earlier government by incoming government in the past,” he said.