By Ranju Kafle
Kathmandu, Feb. 18: Legal experts in the Amicus Curiae pleaded in the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday that the right of dissolution was a choice of the Prime Minister
Dissolving the parliament is a choice of the executive, some resign when they feel unease while others dissolve the House and go for fresh mandate, they said.
According to them, the executive head elected under each Article of the Constitution is ensured the right of choice.
It is executive head who has the right to dissolve, not the parliament, they claimed. Article 76 (7) was the source of the right for the executive head.
Two advocates, Satish Krishna Kharel and Bijayakanta Mainali, from the five-member Amicus Curiae continued their pleading on the matter in the court today.
Mainali said that any type of government had the right to dissolution in the Constitution. He said that people select their leaders in the election and parties use sovereign power while governing through the parliament.
Justice Sapana Malla Pradhan said that Curiae only talked about check and balance, and asked whether the issue of separation of power was involved there. “System balances and separates with one another,” Mainali responded.
Justice Anil Sinha asked whether there was any limitation on executive head. “The ensured legal rights are the limitation for the Prime Minister to be the executive head,” Mainali said.
However, Kharel said that the Constitution grants the right to dissolve the parliament only to the Prime Minister elected under Article 76(5). According to him, Article 103 and 187 assumed special rights to the executive head. “There is right of dissolution but it is not for the executive head,” he added.
Kharel said that the court needs to restore the House if it desires better future of the Constitution. “There may be several weaknesses in the Constitution and there is a group who gets happy with instability,” he added.
Supreme Court had formed an Amicus Curiae comprising three advocates Badri Bahadur Karki, Satish Krishna Kharel and Bijayakanta Mainali from Nepal Bar Association and Purnaman Shakya and Geeta Pathak from the Supreme Court Bar Association. Karki had already put forth his views on the House of Representatives dissolution in the constitutional bench.