House Can Overstep Statute: AG Banjade

Newly-appointed Attorney General Yagya Murti Banjade on Monday said the reinstated House of Representatives can go beyond even the existing Constitution, and as such, its acts would get legitimacy through people's mandate in whom sovereignty is vested.

"The House can work under the mandate of the people and there will be no questioning the legitimacy of its acts," Banjade said. "The people have the right to make and change any Constitution or law, and so there can be no questioning the legitimacy of the acts of the House," he added. He said that the House can declare anything, even against the Constitution, to limit the power of the King and make similar other decisions as needed.

"Such an act will get legitimacy from the jurisprudential point of view rather than any provision of the Constitution or any clause of any Act," Banjade said while addressing journalists after assuming charge as Attorney General on Monday.

It was a departure from tradition, as Banjade took the oath of office and secrecy from Chief Justice Dilip Kumar Paudel at the Supreme Court. Earlier, there was the practice to take oath of office from the CJ in front of the King in the royal palace.

Banjade also urged the government to call a session of the National Assembly in order to amend the Constitution.

"Political decisions don't always apply, so everything should be brought under law," he opined. He asked the government attorneys to work to make successful the government's roadmap for the election to a Constituent Assembly. Banjade pointed out that the King had reinstated the House according to the roadmap of the seven-party alliance, and thus had indirectly assented to an the election to the Constituent Assembly.

The AG assured that he would act to implement the Rayamajhi Commission report that would be prepared within two months, adding that those who killed and suppressed pro-democracy people during the royal regime would not be spared. "Mistakes of the past will not be repeated, as in the case of the Mallik Commission.