The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the CA term should not be extended repeatedly and has ordered the government to extend the term for the last time.

The SC full bench comprising Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi, Justices Damodar Prasad Sharma, Rajkumar Prasad Shah, Kalyan Shrestha and Prem Sharma instructed the government to finalise the time period required to complete drafting constitution before final extension of the CA. If the constitution is not drafted within the extended period, it would be dissolved automatically and go for fresh election or referendum.

The amendment bill of the Interim Constitution was tabled at the parliament on Thursday with a view to extending the CA term by six months. This will be the fourth extension of the CA term. The CA initially had an elected mandate for two years but the political parties keep extending the term as they miss the deadline they set. The current CA term is expiring on 30 November.

Bharat Mani Jangam and Balkrishna Neupane had filed the writ at the SC on 15 September arguing that extending the CA term time and again was against the constitution.

The SC verdict has come at a time when the political parties are at loggerheads over the duration of the CA term extension. The government has proposed the extension for six months while the NC and UML are reluctant to accept it. They have been saying the extension depends on the progress of the peace process and government performance.