Submit your Article

The Supreme Court (SC) has issued an order to scrap the writ petitions filed against the appointments of 52 officials in the constitutional bodies. 

With the SC verdict in the last midnight, the office-bearers of the constitutional bodies would now serve their full six-year tenure.

Hearing of the writ petitions were conducted in the constitutional bench of Chief Justice Prakashman Singh Raut, Senior Justice Sapana Pradhan Malla and Justices Manoj Kumar Sharma, Dr Kumar Chudal and Dr Nahakul Subedi. 

The decision on the appointments of the constitutional bodies was taken on majority basis as Senior Justice Malla, and Justices Sharma and Dr Chudal shared their position to quash the writs. 

CJ Raut and Justice Dr Subedi viewed to scrap the writ petitions from certiorari order since the constitutional council's recommendation made on December 15, 2020 and the appointments thereafter were against the constitution. And the writ petitions against the appointments made on May 9, 2021 deemed scrap.

The SC announced its verdict on the appointments of 52 officials in the constitutional bodies after a long discussion. 

In the midnight from the bench, Chief Justice Raut shared about the dissenting opinions of the justices on the verdict. 

After the verdict, SC Spokesperson Achyut Kuinkel shared that the majority of the justices in the constitutional bench decided to scrap the writ petitions.

A total of 15 writ petitions were lodged at the SC challenging the government decision to appoint office-bearers in the constitutional bodies through ordinances.

The hearing of the case at the SC was completed on May 15. The SC was supposed to give its verdict on June 11 but again the date was fixed for July 2 (Wednesday).

The monsoon wind has its influence throughout the country at present with the monsoon low pressure trough closer to its average position, the Meteorological Forecasting Division said. 

The weather will be generally cloudy across the country today.

There is a possibility of light to moderate rainfall with thunder and lightning in some areas of the hilly regions of the country including Koshi, Bagmati, Gandaki, Lumbini and Sudurpaschim Provinces, as well as in some areas of the remaining regions.

The Division stated that there is a possibility of heavy rainfall in one or two places in the Koshi, Bagmati, Gandaki, Lumbini, Karnali and Sudurpaschim Provinces.

There is a possibility of light to moderate rain and snowfall in some areas of the country's high hilly and mountainous region.

Similarly, tonight it will be generally cloudy in the hilly areas of the country.

The Dalai Lama will meet 11 senior Buddhist monks on Wednesday morning before delivering a written statement that will "most probably" talk about his eventual succession as the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhists, an official said, Reuters reported.

Tibetan Buddhists believe that enlightened monks are reborn to continue their spiritual legacy. The 14th Dalai Lama will turn 90 on Sunday and has long been expected to use the occasion to share possible clues on where his successor, a boy or a girl, could be found following his death.

Beijing views the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, as a separatist and says it will choose his successor. The Dalai Lama has said his successor will be born outside China and has urged his followers to reject anyone chosen by Beijing.

The northern Indian town of Dharamshala, where the Dalai Lama is based with thousands of other Tibetans, has already seen the arrival of the heads of various sects of Buddhism ahead of a Wednesday-Friday religious conference that precedes the birthday celebrations on the weekend, according to Reuters.

The Quad grouping of the United States, India, Japan and Australia called on Tuesday for the perpetrators of an Islamist militant attack that killed 26 in India-administered Kashmir to be brought to justice without delay, Reuters reported.

The April 22 attack sparked heavy fighting between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan in the latest escalation of a decades-old rivalry as India blamed it on Pakistan, which denied responsibility while calling for a neutral investigation.

The U.S. State Department issued, opens new tab a joint statement by the foreign ministers of the grouping, who met in Washington, but stopped short of naming Pakistan or blaming Islamabad.

"The Quad unequivocally condemns all acts of terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations, including cross-border terrorism," the ministers said in the statement, according to Reuters.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to cut off the billions of dollars in subsidies that Elon Musk's companies receive from the federal government, in an escalation of the war of words between the president and the world's richest man, one-time allies who have since fallen out, Reuters reported.

The feud reignited on Monday when Musk, who spent hundreds of millions on Trump's re-election, renewed his criticism of Trump's tax-cut and spending bill, which would eliminate subsidies for electric vehicle purchases that have benefited Tesla, the leading U.S. EV maker. That bill passed the Senate by a narrow margin midday Tuesday.

"He's upset that he's losing his EV mandate and … he's very upset about things but he can lose a lot more than that," Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.

Though Musk has often said government subsidies should be eliminated, Tesla has historically benefited from billions of dollars in tax credits and other policy benefits because of its business in clean transportation and renewable energy. The Trump administration has control over many of those programs, some of which are targeted in the tax bill, including a $7,500 consumer tax credit that has made buying or leasing EVs more attractive for consumers, according to Reuters.

The Iranian military loaded naval mines onto vessels in the Persian Gulf last month, a move that intensified concerns in Washington that Tehran was gearing up to blockade the Strait of Hormuz following Israel's strikes on sites across Iran, according to two U.S. officials, Reuters reported.

The previously unreported preparations, which were detected by U.S. intelligence, occurred some time after Israel launched its initial missile attack against Iran on June 13, said the officials, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters.

The loading of the mines - which have not been deployed in the strait - suggests that Tehran may have been serious about closing one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, a move that would have escalated an already-spiraling conflict and severely hobbled global commerce.

About one-fifth of global oil and gas shipments pass through the Strait of Hormuz and a blockage would likely have spiked world energy prices, according to Reuters.

A panel of Indian lawmakers will review safety in the country's civil aviation sector and has invited several industry and government officials to answer questions on July 9, with topics set to include Air India's recent plane crash, Reuters reported.

The upper house of India's parliament has asked airport operators, air traffic controllers and airlines including Air India and IndiGo to take part in a comprehensive review of passenger safety, according to a memo drafted for the meeting and seen by Reuters.

The gathering comes after the June 12 Air Indiadisaster that killed 260 people, including 241 on board, when a Boeing 787-8 jet crashed within a minute of take-off from India's Ahmedabad. Investigators are still probing what caused the world's worst aviation accident in a decade.

Though the memo did not mention the crash, R K Chaudhary, a lawmaker on the panel, told Reuters that it planned to discuss the matter internally and during the meeting, according to Reuters.

U.S. Senate Republicans passed President Donald Trump's massive tax-cut and spending bill on Tuesday by the narrowest of margins, advancing a package that would slash taxes, reduce social safety net programs and boost military and immigration enforcement spending while adding $3.3 trillion to the national debt, Reuters reported.

The legislation now heads to the House of Representatives for possible final approval, though a handful of Republicans there have already voiced opposition to some of the Senate provisions.

Trump wants to sign it into law by the July 4 Independence Day holiday, and House Speaker Mike Johnson said he aimed to meet that deadline.

The measure would extend Trump's 2017 tax cuts, give new tax breaks for income from tips and overtime pay and increase spending on the military and immigration enforcement. It also would cut about $930 billion of spending on the Medicaid health program and food aid for low-income Americans and repeal many of Democratic former President Joe Biden's green-energy incentives, according to Reuters.