HEADLINE NEWS THE RISING NEPAL (DAILY)

Hearings on petition to reinstate House ends

Kathmandu, June 26 (RSS): Hearings on the arguments held on behalf of petitioners seeking reinstatement of the dissolved House of Representatives concluded today.

On behalf of the 56 outgoing MPs filing the writ petition, senior advocate Mukunda Regmi presented arguments for four hours yesterday and today.

During the course of the discussion, Regmi said that even if the party had obstructed the extension of the state of emergency, dissolution of the House of Representatives was simply shifting the blame.

Wondering how the Prime Minister, who had said that the state of emergency would be withdrawn at the meeting of the parliamentary party, went hurriedly to dissolve the House of Representatives within two hours, he called upon the judges to listen to the audio cassettes of the meeting.

He said, "it is the House of Representatives where complaints about the high handedness of the state of emergency are made. But where does one go to make complaints now? The precedent of dissolving the House in a fit is found nowhere."

Senior advocate Regmi said that the government should prove on what basis elections can be held on the specified date.

He also resented the different views expressed by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in 2052 that sought the scrapping of the dissolution then and his views at present.

In his written reply, the Prime Minister had not denied the issues raised by the writ petition. And by not denying, he is conceding, Regmi argued.

Presenting arguments on behalf of HMG, Attorney General Prem Bahadur Bista said that the emergency was not imposed for fun, nor has the Prime Minister any selfish interest in it.

He said that the law and order situation hadn’t changed much, and a resolution to extend the emergency was registered on the advice of the security personnel.

Bista also alleged that by filing the writ petition in court, the petitioners had only wasted time.

The Attorney General and four others from his office will present arguments on behalf of the government tomorrow also.

Those who have presented arguments on behalf of the writ petitioners so far include Madhav Kumar Basnet, Dhruva Lal Shrestha, Upendra Lal Timilsina, Nabaraj Suvedi, Sindhu Nath Timilsina, Chandeswhar Shrestha, Dhruva Koirala, Devendra Raj Nepali, Dr. Tara Prasad Sapkota, Mithilesh Kumar Sinha, Keshav Raj Panday, Harihar Dahal, Radheshyam Adhikari, Kusum Shrestha and Regmi.

Pleadings by Yagya Murti Banjade and Lalit Bahadur Basnet, and those of the Election Commission and emici curiae, will continue on behalf of the respondent Speaker. There will them be pleadings on behalf of the writ petitioners.

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