Constitution does not provide any authority to the King : Dhavan

Kathmandu Nov 7-As many people are interpreting the constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990 in different ways, a senior advocate of the Supreme Court of India, Rajeev Dhavan, said that the 1990 Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal has adopted the best constitutional principles and no one has the authority to act beyond the limitations sets by the statute.

Giving a lecture in the Nepal Bar Association premises on Sunday, Dhavan also said that the King has not been working within the limitations of the statute, reports said.

He said that Article 127 of the Constitution does not provide any authority to the King to act in any way to form a new Council of Ministers as he had done after his February 1 takeover.

The King sacked the elected Prime Minister on October 4 2002 citing the Article 127 of the Constitution. The King also cited the same article to sack the coalition government of four political parties headed by Sher Bahadur Deuba on February 1 and formed a government under his chairmanship.

The article mentions, "If any difficulty arises in connection with the implementation of this Constitution, His Majesty may issue necessary Orders to remove such difficulty and such Orders shall be laid before Parliament."

Dhavan advised everyone to interpret the Constitution in connection with the preamble of the 1990 Constitution. “The Constitution is clear what powers it provided to the King,” report quoted Dhavan as saying.

Citing Article 35 (2) of the constitution he said that the King has no special authority to act without the recommendation of the Council of Ministers.

The article reads as Except as otherwise expressly provided as to be exercised exclusively by His Majesty or at His discretion or on the recommendation of any institution or official, the powers of His Majesty under this Constitution shall be exercised upon the recommendation and advice and with the consent of the Council of Ministers. Such recommendation, advice and consent shall be submitted through the Prime Minister.

Dhavan, also a member of the International Commission of Jurists’ (ICJ), said that the current status of the 1990 Constitution of Nepal is just a wrong turn and it can be rebuilt.

One of the drafters of the 1990 Constitution, Daman Nath Dhungana, said that direct confrontation between the monarch and the people started after the October 4, 2002 dismissal of the government and the King’s subsequent moves