In a crowded third floor chamber of the Supreme Court, amidst the cacophony of rush-hour traffic below, a five member bench has taken up hearing the case of 'People vs RCCC'. More than 50 lawyers are lined up to speak up for rule the of law and constitutionalism and just a handful of government lawyers are picking up the defence of the Royal Commission for Corruption Control.

The issue before the bench goes to the heart of the matter of the current political crisis. And by the very act of allowing debate on whether the royal commission has the right to exist under the 1990 constitution, the high court has signalled the possibility of challenging the royal takeover. At a time when the constitution is being attacked from both the extreme right and left and accepted as comatose by much of civil society, our submission is that the statute is very much alive. And for Nepal to revert to the rule of law it must be activated.

There is a wave of expectation about the Supreme Court ever since a chief justice who acted as cheerleader for February First retired and the well-regarded Rt Hon'ble Dilip Kumar Poudel took over. Decisions from the court relating to habeas corpus petitions and interim directives on the right of FM radio to broadcast news have suddenly proved that there is an institution of the state showing signs of sobriety and independence. That is all that we ask of the Supreme Court, whose incumbents we would like to regard as personages of the highest discretion and commitment to jurisprudence.

A whole new crop of constitutional lawyers have energised themselves to challenge the existence of the RCCC in front of the justices. Today, they exude the same energy and adherence to principles as did veterans like Kusum Shrestha and Ganesh Raj Sharma when they challenged the Panchayat.

In a nutshell, the lawyers defending the RCCC have argued that Article 127 does provide His Majesty with the authority to appoint the commission. The opposition contends that the royal prerogative does not exist on this matter and that the RCCC is simply unconstitutional.

Perhaps in the interest of a case presently being heard by the highest court in the land we should keep our own counsel. But at a time when the people have been abandoned by so many institutions of state and society, a sense of national relief and hope is beginning to coalesce around the institution of the Supreme Court of Nepal.