Kathmandu:
The Nepal Supreme Court on Thursday ordered Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to seem just before it inside the next seven days with a written response to the instances of contempt of court filed against him.
Two separate instances of contempt of court have been filed against PM Oli at the top rated court on Tuesday, for his alleged remarks on 95-year-old senior advocate Krishna Prasad Bhandari, calling him “a grandpa lawyer”.
Hearing the writ petitions filed against PM Oli on Thursday, the single bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Sharma asked the prime minister to be present in particular person to clarify in written “why should he not face action under contempt of court”.
Advocates Kumar Sharma Acharya and Kanchan Krishna Neupane had filed the two contempt of court instances.
Prime Minister Oli, 68, had dissolved the Nepal Parliament on December 20, amidst a political tussle with Nepal Communist Party (NCP) leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal ”Prachanda”.
Last week, PM Oli was expelled from the basic membership of the NCP led by Prachanda.
A petition was filed at the Supreme Court on Sunday final to confirm the authenticity of the gazette dissolving the House of Representatives. Nonagenarian lawyer Bhandari was set to participate in the hearing.
At a public occasion on Friday final, PM Oli had allegedly described the hearing at the top court as “a drama”. On Bhandari’s participation in it, PM Oli had allegedly derided him as “a grandpa lawyer”.
Advocates Acharya and Neupane have condemned PM Oli’s remarks and filed for contempt of court proceedings.
Bhandari, participating at the Supreme Court hearing on Sunday, had termed PM Oli’s move to dissolve the House of Representatives as “coup against the Constitution”.
He had mentioned the prime minister does not have the appropriate to dissolve the House in the present situations.
Meanwhile, the top rated court has also ordered 4 former chief justices and one former speaker of Parliament to be present in court on separate instances of contempt of court.
The former chief justices facing the contempt charges are Anup Raj Sharma, Meen Bahadur Rayamajhi, Sushila Karki and Kalyan Shrestha. Former speaker Daman Nath Dhungana faces the exact same charge.