@article{2015::on_the_con,
title = {On the Constitutional Crisis of Nepal and the “Power to Remove Difficulties”},
year = {2015},
note = {This Article examines the recent constitutional crisis of Nepal in
2012-2013. The crisis refers to a time period between the dissolution
of the first Constituent Assembly and the election of the second. The
constitution-drafting process (begun in 2007) dragged on for several
years and eventually exhausted the mandate of the Constituent Assembly
despite several extensions. The dissolution of the Assembly in May
2012 led to a political impasse - a crisis of constitutional calibre
from where the Interim Constitution seemed to provide no exit. In
effect, Nepal had no constituent body to finalise the constitution,
and no constitutional framework nor parliament to facilitate the
re-establishment of such a body. It seemed that the constitutional
process had been overcome by the complexities of post-conflict
politics, which in the case of Nepal largely revolves around ethnic
politics and federalism. In addition to explaining the course of the
crisis, the Article introduces the key provision of the Interim
Constitution applied to resolve the situation: the presidential
“Power to Remove Difficulties” provided in its Article 158. Far
from uncontroversial, this uncommon remnant of former royal
prerogatives nonetheless enabled the post-conflict politics to return
back to the track of constitution-making. To shed light on the nature
of this Power, this Article explains the provision in its
constitutional context and provides an overview of the jurisprudence
of the Supreme Court of Nepal concerning it. The Article concludes by
pointing out the contradictory result of the use of the Power to
Remove Difficulties. While on the one hand it has indeed led into new
elections and the recovery of the constitutional process, it may at
the same time have opened up new avenues of political exceptions the
kind of which are very likely to follow in the future of the process.},
journal = {VRÜ Verfassung und Recht in Übersee},
pages = {187--204},
author = {},
volume = {48},
number = {2}
}