December 10: The Supreme Court has issued an interim order asking the concerned bodies to not implement the letter written by the general secretary of parliament secretariat, which had stated that the impeachment motion against suspended Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana was rendered ineffective.    
A constitutional bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Hari Krishna Karki, senior Justice Bishwambhar Prasad Shrestha and justices Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada, Dr Anand Mohan Bhattarai and Anil Kumar Sinha on Friday issued the interim order following a preliminary hearing on a writ petition filed against the letter on Friday.

"The writ petition has raised significant constitutional and legal questions. The petition has also argued that the general secretary of parliament secretariat, Dr Bharat Raj Gautam, issued the letter going beyond his authority," the interim order read, adding, "The parliament’s general secretary exercising the authority bestowed to House of Representatives by the constitution has become a matter of serious concern. So, it is not logical from the viewpoint of balance of check to implement the letter immediately.”    
Until the SC completes hearing on writ petition, the letter that the parliament's general secretary issued must not be enforced, the constitutional bench added.    
Chairman of the Supreme Court Bar, Purna Man Shakya, Vice Chair Mukunda Prasad Poudel, and Secretary Rishiram Ghimire, among others had filed the petition at SC, demanding the letter to be scrapped.    
In the writ petition, the petitioners argued that when Chief Justice Rana was suspended with the impeachment motion that questioned Rana's competence, behaviour and financial issues, merely a letter issued by the general secretary of the legislature parliament would not render the impeachment motion ineffective.    
On Wednesday, General Secretary Dr Gautam had written a letter to the concerned bodies, including the Supreme Court, informing that the impeachment motion against CJ Rana was invalidated. It created a ripple effect in the political circle of the country.     -- RSS