Kathmandu, June 7: Hearing into cases related to dissolution of the House of Representatives(HoR) is not taking place today due to problem in the health of Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher JB Rana. The Constitutional Bench does not conduct hearing in the absence of the Chief Justice as there is the constitutional provision of conducting the hearing in the Bench under the chairmanship of the Chief Justice.

Supreme Court spokesperson Devendra Dhakal said that the Chief Justice has not reported for work in the court today due to illness. Therefore, the hearing has been postponed in the Constitutional Bench.

The Constitutional Bench comprising the Chief Justice Rana and senior-most Justices, Deepak Kumar Karki, Meera Khadka, Ishwor Prasad Khatiwada and Dr Ananda Mohan Bhattarai was constituted on Sunday. The Bench started hearing into the case on Sunday but had scheduled it for today due to lack of time.

Hearing into the case related to the dissolution of the House of Representatives has not begun into the case proper following dispute over the formation of the Bench itself. Thirty writs have been filed at the Supreme Court in connection with the HoR dissolution.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari had on May 22 dissolved the House of Representatives and set the date for mid-term election for November 12 and 19 on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers. The writ petitions have demanded scrapping the President’s May 22 decision and declaring it unconstitutional and illegal. (RSS)