The Supreme Court has issued a show cause notice to the government and the President’s office on its decision to reshuffle the Cabinet on December 25, five days after Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli dissolved the House of Representatives, thereby reducing his government to a caretaker one.

A single bench of Justice Anil Kumar Sinha issued the show cause notice on Monday responding to the writs separately filed by advocates Dinesh Tripathi and Lokendra Oli among others.

“The court has summoned the petitioners and the defendant for a discussion on January 12,” said Bhadrakali Pokhrel, spokesperson of the Supreme Court.

Following Oli’s move of dissolving the House on December 20, seven ministers, all from the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-Madhav Kumar Nepal faction, had resigned.

On December 25, Oli had inducted eight new ministers into his Cabinet, appointed a state minister and reshuffled the portfolios of six ministers.

His move had drawn criticism from constitutional experts and political leaders.

According to experts, as per Article 77 (1) (c), the office of the prime minister becomes vacant if he or she ceases to be a member of the House of Representatives.

Article 77 (3) says if the office of prime minister falls vacant, the same Council of Ministers shall continue to act until another Council of Ministers is constituted, which is possible only after a fresh election, hence until then the prime minister is not allowed to change the Council of Ministers.

Based on those Articles, the petitioners had challenged Oli’s Cabinet reshuffle move.

“The Supreme Court has directed the government to come up with written clarification,” said Tripathi, one of the petitioners. “The bench has also called us and the defendant for discussion on January 12 to decide whether an interim order is necessary.”