Karki Recuses Himself After Lawyers Question Why He Was on Bench
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WI THOUT F EAR O R F A V O U R Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXVIII No. 310 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 27.2 C 0.5 C Thursday, January 07, 2021 | 23-09-2077 Biratnagar Jumla Karki recuses himself after lawyers question why he was on bench Next hearing on writs against House dissolution on January 13 will focus on whether the five-member Constitutional Bench should hear them or send them to extended full bench. BINOD GHIMIRE KATHMANDU, JAN 6 A hearing on writs against Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli government’s decision to dissolve the House of Representatives was adjourned on Wednesday after Justice Hari Krishna Karki recused himself from the Constitutional Bench. Karki was picked as one of the four members of the Constitutional Bench by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana. Rana leads the bench. Rana’s decision to pick Karki had run into controversy when the PHOTO: SUPREME COURT Constitutional Bench started a hearing Hari Krishna Karki on December 25. Justices Bishowambhar Prasad tioned if Karki could sit on the bench. Shrestha, Anil Kumar Sinha and Tej “It’s not that we are doubting Bahadur KC are the other members of Karki’s competence,” Tripathi told the the Constitutional Bench. Post. “However, it is an ethical issue. It Rana had selected the four justices is good that he opted out of the bench.” from the roster of 14. He had decided to The advocates on Wednesday had continue with the same composition questioned Karki if he should sit on POST PHOTO: ANISH REGMI on Wednesday. the bench if he believed in the princi- A woman carries home water at Pashupati temple premises in Kathmandu on Wednesday. As the project to divert water from the Melamchi river in Sindhupalchok to the Capital is delayed, city “Justice Karki decided not to be ple of natural justice. residents are reeling under an acute shortage of water. part of the Constitutional Bench that During his first stint as prime min- is hearing the writs against dissolu- ister in 2015, Oli had appointed Karki tion of the House of Representatives,” as the attorney general. Kishor Poudel, a communication By virtue of being the attorney gen- expert at the Supreme Court, told the eral, Karki hence was the chief coun- Post. “The chief justice will pick sel to Oli and his government then. Authorities don’t know yet whether the new another justice to replace Karki.” Since the case being heard by When the hearing began on the court is also against Oli and his Wednesday, advocates Shambhu government, advocates had raised Thpaa, Dinesh Tripathi and Mukti questions about Karki’s presence on variant of coronavirus has entered the country Pradhan, among others, who argued the bench. on behalf of the petitioners, ques- >> Continued on page 2 The government is yet to set up facilities for genome sequencing while it has refused to seek support from the private sector, thereby putting more people at risk, experts say. ARJUN POUDEL to be sent to the World Health Nepal office could send the samples KATHMANDU, JAN 6 Organization’s collaborating centre in [to Hong Kong] by Saturday,” Dr Hong Kong. Bikash Devkota, chief of Quality When in the third week of January A year later, amid reports of new Standard and Regulation Division at last year, a man who had returned variants of the coronavirus being the Ministry of Health and Population, from Wuhan, China, was suspected to detected in various countries, Nepal told the Post. “We have also have been infected with the coronavi- finds itself in a tight spot. directed the National Public Health rus, Nepali authorities sent swab sam- The National Public Health Laboratory to send the other three ples collected from him to Hong Kong. Laboratory is planning to send swab samples to the WHO’s collaborating Since Nepal did not have the facility samples collected from three people centre for tests.” to conduct tests, the swab samples had who returned from the United Officials could not provide an Kingdom some two weeks ago to answer as to how long it will take to Hong Kong to ascertain if they get the results back. are infected with the new vari- “Due to a lack of capacity at the ant of the coronavirus. National Public Health Laboratory, we Swab samples from six of have to send these samples abroad,” eight people returning from the Dr Basudev Pandey, director at the UK had been collected. Epidemiology and Disease Control According to officials, they Division, told the Post. “Yes, we should have tested positive for Covid-19 be able to do this test on a regular but there is no way to determine basis within the country, as the virus whether they have contracted keeps changing its form, and we do the new variant of SARS-CoV-2, not know if the new variant has which causes Covid-19. already entered our country.” “The UN Health agency’s >> Continued on page 2 Why is everyone talking about Subas Nembang? Nembang, who led Constituent Assembly, is heard in a 2019 video clip saying constitution does not allow House dissolution. But he hasn’t called Oli’s move unconstitutional. TIKA R PRADHAN parties and experts on constitutional KATHMANDU, JAN 6 matters describing it as extra-consti- tutional, Nembang has not made any Subas Nembang is a lawyer. But he has public statement on the matter yet. made his career in politics. According to critics, the constitu- Nembang, who has not lost any elec- tion does not allow Oli, as a majority tion since 1990, reached the pinnacle prime minister, to dissolve the House, of his political career after he got the but Nembang has remained tight- opportunity to chair the Constituent lipped on the matter. Assembly—twice—from 2008 to 2012 On Wednesday evening, when the and then 2013 to 2015, until it delivered Post reached out to Nembang, he the constitution. refused to speak on the House dissolu- Lately, Nembang has become a talk- tion issue. ing point, especially since Prime “I cannot talk on a case sub judice Minister KP Sharma Oli decided to [in court] as directed by the constitu- dissolve the House of Representatives tion,” said Nembang, hinting at on December 20. POST FILE PHOTO Article 105 of the constitution and On Wednesday, a video clip that Subas Nembang referring to the writs filed against the went viral once again put the spotlight House dissolution. on Nembang. in July 2019. Article 105 under the title In the video clip, posted on Twitter “We wanted to include polling dates “Restriction on discussion” states: from the handle jspanepal, which in [also in the constitution] like the fixed “No discussion shall be held in either its bio says “official twitter account of date for the fiscal budget. But we did House of the federal parliament on Journalists’ Society for Parliamentary not [do so] because once it is written any matters that may cause adverse Affairs”, Nembang is heard explain- polls must be held on a certain date, effect on the dispensation of justice on ing why the provision of not allowing and that may not be possible at times.” any cases which are sub judice in any a prime minister to dissolve After dissolving the House, Oli has courts of Nepal and on any judicial Parliament on a whim was inserted in called snap polls for April 30 and May acts done by judges in the course of the constitution. 10–a year and a half earlier than the performance of their duties.” “[In the past] whenever a prime scheduled general elections. Nembang’s silence, however, has minister was angry with lawmakers, Nembang, a leader of the Nepal left many intrigued. Even when Oli is he used to dissolve the Parliament. We Communist Party, these days is known publicly making claims that the House removed that [provision] and now the as one of the key persons in Oli’s cannot be restored, despite the prime minister cannot dissolve as we orbit, playing the role of, in effect, case being heard by the court, have excluded that provision,” Oli’s legal counsel. Nembang, who is well-versed on con- Nembang is heard saying while speak- Though Oli’s December 20 decision stitutional and legal matters, has cho- ing at a function organised by the to dissolve the House has received sen not to talk. Parliament Secretariat at Dhulikhel widespread criticism, with political >> Continued on page 2 C M Y K THURSDAY, JANUARY 07, 2021 | 02 NATIONAL Bardibas villagers grapple with drinking water shortage Around 400 families have been facing water shortages for the last five decades. SUNITA BARAL Bishnu Thapa, a local resident of Water and Sanitation Division Office MAHOTTARI, JAN 6 Bastipur Tol, complained that the in Mahottari has not released a budget authorities and people’s representa- for the continuation of the project. Every day, Mina Pokharel, a resident tives have not addressed their water “We have been requesting the divi- of Bhapsi Ratmate in Ward No. 3 of shortage problem despite multiple sion office for budget allocation but Bardibas Municipality, Mahottari, requests. nothing has been done yet,” he said. spends three hours to bring home a “In the dry season, we have to walk “The local residents had also put in a vessel of water. According to her, 20 to Palla Gaun to fetch a vessel of request with the division office but households in her neighbourhood rely water. It takes at least three hours to their calls went unheard.” on the communal water tap to meet reach Palla Gaun from Bastipur Tol The total cost of the project is Rs 30 their needs.