A full bench of the Supreme Court (SC), including the chief justice, discussed on a three-year-old petition to reconsider the reinstatement of the dissolved House of Representatives Thursday.

Following the discussion, acting registrar of the apex court Ram Krishna Timilsina told the media that the SC would decide soon whether or not to entertain a petition asking the SC to reconsider its decision validating the dissolution of the parliament by former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.

Reports quoted Timilsina saying the court would decide whether to deliberate on the case only after consensus of all justices of the apex court. A majority of the 11 justices must agree before the SC can gain arguments over the revival of the dissolved House of Representatives.

The bench comprises chief justice Dilip Kumar Poudel and justices Kedar Prasad Giri, Min Bahadur Rayamajhi, Ram Nagina Singh, Anup Raj Sharma, Ram Prasad Shrestha, Khil Raj Regmi, Sharada Prasad Pundit, Sharada Shrestha, Arjun Prasad Singh and Hari Jung Sijapati.

The then government headed by former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba recommended dissolution of the parliament on 22 May 2002 which was dissolved by His Majesty the King at midnight the same day.

A full bench of the SC headed by Chief Justice Keshav Prasad Upadheya had ruled on 5th August 2002 that the dissolution of the parliament was legal and constitutional.

According to reports, Thursday’s discussion was adjourned, ordering the bench assistant to make a list of differences and similarities between the three SC precedents on house dissolution in 1994, 1995 and 2002. The apex court had reversed late prime minister Man Mohan Adhikari’s decision to dissolve the house in 1995 while it had upheld ex-prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s decision to dissolve the house in 1994.

Noteworthy, in 1998, former PM Surya Bahadur Thapa had resigned from the post as late King Birendra rejected his recommendations to dissolve the House after the SC opined that a PM heading a minority government cannot dissolve the House if there were alternatives to form another government. nepalnews.com pd Aug 26 05

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