Kathmandu, July 2: The Supreme Court is set to deliver its verdict today on the case challenging the appointment of 52 constitutional officials. Although the decision was initially scheduled for June 10, it was later rescheduled to July 2.
The bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut and Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla, Manoj Kumar Sharma, Dr. Kumar Chudal, and Dr. Nahakul Subedi had heard arguments on the petitions filed against the appointments.
At the time, then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had appointed officials to 52 constitutional bodies without parliamentary hearings after dissolving the House of Representatives. In response, 15 writ petitions were filed at the Supreme Court demanding that the appointments be annulled. The court has been holding regular hearings since January and had set today for delivering the verdict.
Sources said the Chief Justice and justices of the Constitutional Bench were engaged in final preparations to deliver the ruling on July 1. Barring any technical issues, the decision will be announced today.
What is the 52 Constitutional Appointments Case?
After the unification of the CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Centre) into the Nepal Communist Party (NCP), internal factional disputes grew. One faction was led by the Prachanda–Madhav group, while the other was led by KP Sharma Oli.
The growing dispute spilled over into the Constitutional Council. The Council, led by Prime Minister Oli, included Speaker Agni Sapkota, National Assembly Chair Ganesh Timilsina, opposition leader Sher Bahadur Deuba, and Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana. The Deputy Speaker’s position was vacant at the time.
In the council meeting, only National Assembly Chair Timilsina and Chief Justice Rana were present alongside Prime Minister Oli. Speaker Sapkota and opposition leader Deuba did not participate. Since a quorum required the presence of at least five out of the six members, decisions could not be made without them. Speaker Sapkota repeatedly refused to cooperate.
Against this backdrop, Prime Minister Oli issued an ordinance amending the Constitutional Council Act, allowing meetings to proceed with just three members present and decisions to be made by majority vote.
Fearing that his rival faction might overpower him within the party and force him to step down, Oli dissolved the House of Representatives on December 20, 2020. Just prior to this, on December 15, a meeting of the Constitutional Council recommended 38 individuals for various constitutional bodies, of which 32 were appointed.
Because the House had been dissolved, the appointments were made without parliamentary hearings.
Later, on May 21, 2021, the House was dissolved for a second time. Following this, another 20 constitutional appointments were recommended and made without hearings.

People's News Monitoring Service