The five-member constitutional bench of the Supreme Court, which includes Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana, issued the order on Friday after three lawmakers moved the court saying that members of the House of Representatives who win their seats under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system get to select projects under the constituency development fund, but those who make to Parliament under the proportional (PR) system don’t have a say in it.

The government provides Rs 60 million to each member of the House of Representatives elected under the FPTP system for the development of their constituencies.

“The Supreme Court has issued a show-cause notice to the government,” said lawmaker Prakash Rasaili (Snehi), one of the petitioners who filed the writ on December 17. “Now authorities need to present a written response through the Attorney General’s office within 15 days.”

In their petition, Rasaili (Snehi), a lawmaker elected to the House of Representatives under the the PR system from Bajhang and Rangamati Shahi, elected under the PR system from Humla, and Prakash Pantha, a member of the National Assembly, demanded that the court issue an interim order to halt the programme until the case is finalised.

The lawmakers say that the member of Parliament elected under the FPTP system convenes the committee that decides how to use the fund, without consulting other lawmakers. This is against the spirit of the constitution which does not discriminate between lawmakers elected under different systems in the federal Parliament.

The three lawmakers filed the petition after Bhairav Bahadur Singh of Nepal Communist Party, elected on the FPTP system from Bajhang-1, used the fund without consulting members of Parliament elected under the PR system.

In his budget speech, Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada had said that working procedures governing for the programme will be revised to ensure that all lawmakers are involved in monitoring of the projects under the programme. However, the provisions were not rolled out.