Supreme Court has issued a final verdict ruling that Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane has lost all his posts on the ground of not acquiring the Nepali citizenship.
With the verdict, Lamichhane has been stripped of his posts as Deputy Prime Minister (DPM), Home Minister (HM) as well as the Member of Parliament (MP). Similarly, his post as the chairman of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has also been scrapped.
Hearing on the Lamichhane’s citizenship writ, a Constitutional Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Hari Krishna Karki, Justices Bishwambhar Prasad Shrestha, Ishwor Prasad Khatiwada, Dr. Aananda Mohan Bhattarai and Anil Kumar Sinha issued the verdict stripping Lamichhane of his all posts on the ground of not acquiring the citizenship of Nepal.
On Friday, on behalf of Lamichhane, advocate Narendra KC put forth arguments and Surendra Bhandari among others pleaded on the case on behalf of the petitioners.
The Bench had in its earlier order required that the documents submitted by Lamichhane to the Department of Immigration on June 20, 2018, the papers related to the action taken to that connection be presented before the Court within seven days, whether the documents and papers are at the Ministry of Home Affairs or the Department or the District Administration Office.
It may be noted that advocates Rabi Raj Basaula, Yuba Raj Poudel et al had filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court challenging the Rastriya Swatantra Party president Lamichhane's qualification as the elected Member of the House of Representatives.
The writ petitioners had sought revoking DPM Lamichhane's MP post arguing that he opened a political party and became a Member of the House of Representatives without acquiring the Nepali citizenship.
Meanwhile, the security situation was tightened on and around the premises of the Supreme Court to preempt any untoward incidents that may occur following the verdict.
