The Supreme Court on Friday issued a show cause notice against the Office of the President and the government demanding a written justification for their move to dissolve the House of Representatives on Sunday.

The court also asked for clarification from the two state agencies why shouldn’t the court issue an order as demanded by the petitioners who have demanded revocation of the decision of the President to dissolve the House of Representatives based on the government’s recommendation.

“If there is any legal ground not to issue a ruling as demanded by the petitioners, submit the details by January 3 through the Office of the Attorney General,” reads the order.

The ruling has ruled out extending the deadline to produce the documents.

The five-member Constitutional Bench of the court led by Chief Justice Cholendra Sumsher Rana also has asked the Office of the President and the government to present the original copy of their decision regarding the dissolution of the House.

The Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court started a hearing on 13 writs filed against the decision of President Bidya Devi Bhandari to dissolve the House of Representatives as per the recommendation of the KP Sharma Oli government on Sunday.

The court has decided to hold a regular hearing on the writs that have claimed the dissolution of the House “constitutional” from January 6 giving them due priority. The bench also decided to form a seven member amicus curiae comprising three advocates from Nepal Bar Association, two from the Supreme Court Bar, one each from senior advocates and advocates.

The amicus curiae is a group of experts comprising lawyers and experts on the constitution called by the Supreme Court whenever it considers that the issue it is looking into is a serious one and the view of experts would be helpful.

The apex court in November 2017 had called an amicus curiae on the writ demanding voting rights for civil servants and security forces on election duty.

Similarly, it was called in December 2016 as well to decide on the election modality for the local level polls.

Before the start of the hearing, Rana on Friday morning constituted the bench comprising Justices Hari Krishna Karki, Bishowambhar Prasad Shrestha, Anil Kumar Sinha and Tej Bahadur KC. The chief justice leads the five-member bench.

Though the chief justice has an authority to pick four justices from the 14-member roster prepared based on the recommendation of the Judicial Council, there is a practice to constitute a Constitutional Bench from among senior most justices.

Rana, however, did not pick Deepak Kumar Karki and Meera Khadka who are the second and third senior most justices after him.

In its order the Constitutional Bench has also asked that the original copy that shows the exact time the no-confidence motion was registered against Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in the Parliament Secretariat on Sunday, the day President Bidya Devi Bhandari dissolved the House of Representatives.