Kathmandu: In its final ruling, the Supreme Court has asked Vice President Parmanand Jha to take a fresh oath in Nepalese language within a week if he wants to "continue in office," annulling his controversial oath in Hindi, he took while swearing in last year.
The ruling by a five-member full bench of the top court
yesterday ruled that "It is deemed necessary for the vice
president to take the oath as provisioned in the law before he
assumes office and if he wants to continue in office, as has
already been clarified by this court´s order on July 24."
The court's ruling comes at a time when Madhesi leader
Jha has been refusing to take a fresh oath following
nullification by the Supreme Court of his oath taken in Hindi
in July last year.
The court gave Vice-president Jha 7 days to make a
choice between whether or not he was ready to take fresh oath
in Nepali language as directed by the court in its ruling on
July 24, according to Supreme Court sources.
The court has said that it was mandatory for him to
retake oath to continue with official duties and
responsibilities as Vice President.
The bench comprised Justices Top Bahadur Magar, Ram
Kumar Prasad Shah, Kalyan Shrestha, Prem Sharma nd Bharat Raj
Upreti. The order was issued to all defendants, including the
President and the Prime Minister in response to a writ filed
against Jha's alleged defiance of the court ruling.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, August 13, 2009, 22:59