Constitutional court to interpret new constitution

Political parties have agreed to the provision of constitutional court in the new constitution which will hold the exclusive right to interpreting the constitution.

A meeting of the sub-committee formed under the Constitutional Committee (CC) to resolve the disputed issues in constitution drafting on Friday reached an agreement to this effect.

Emerging from the meeting, Nepali Congress leader and sub-committee member Ram Chandra Poudel informed that the aforesaid constitutional court will comprise five members with Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as the chief coordinator.

Up until now, the Supreme Court reserved the sole right to interpreting the constitution.

While NC, CPN (UML) including other parties had been insisting that the right to interpreting the constitution should remain with the SC, UCPN (Maoist) and Madhesh based parties were arguing that a separate constitutional court should be formed for the purpose.

The parties had agreed that the court will hold the right to interpreting the constitution during Thursday’s meeting of the sub-committee held at Singha Durbar, thus resolving one of the contentious topic in constitution making. However, yesterday’s meeting had failed to reach consensus as to which court will have rights to do so.

A meeting of the sub-committee to be held on Sunday is set to discuss the responsibilities and modalities of the constitutional court. nepalnews.com