The Supreme Court has directed the Office of the President and the Secretariat of the Constitutional Council to produce the original documents related to the appointments of the chairpersons and members in the different constitutional commissions and in the judicial council.

Responding to the different petitions filed by advocates Dinesh Tripathi and Om Prakash Aryal among others, the Constitutional Bench issued the order to produce the documents within seven days. The hearing could not take place on Wednesday for the lack of documents.

The Constitutional Bench, on March 23, had ordered the Office of the President to submit the original documents related to the appointment of the officials.

“The court has directed to produce the original copies of the decision on the appointments to the constitutional commissions and the Judicial Council,” Bimal Poudel, spokesperson at the Supreme Court, told the Post.

The Constitutional Council had recommended 52 individuals for appointment to various constitutional bodies on December 15, 2020 and May 9, 2021 when CPN-UML chair KP Sharma Oli was prime minister. Oli at that time was the chair of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) as well, which was invalidated by the Supreme Court on March 7 last year. Similarly, senior advocate Ram Prasad Bhandari was appointed as a member of the council on June 21 last year without a parliamentary hearing.

The appointments, however, had run into controversy as the then Oli government had amended the Constitutional Council (Functions, duties, powers and procedures) Act-2010 through an ordinance to make it easier for convening the meeting of the Constitutional Council in the absence of the Speaker and the leader of the main opposition, the Nepali Congress at that time.

The officials were appointed without holding a hearing by a parliamentary committee as the House was dissolved during that time. A writ petition was filed at the Constitutional Bench regarding the appointment.