“We informed President Yadav about the constitutional and legal grounds for administering the oath to suspended Vice President Jha," Minister for Law and Justice Prem Bahadur Singh said, adding, “We also requested the President to make necessary preparations at his end to administer the oath to Jha as per the government´s decision.” [break]
A source said the government is sending a letter on Friday in Jha´s name to attend the oath taking ceremony.
The Office of Prime Minister remained busy the whole day on Thursday to fix a date for the oath taking ceremony. Prime Minister Madhav Nepal´s aide indicated that preparations are underway to administer the oath to Jha on Sunday. Jha has already been informed about the letter.
“He will decide everything only after getting a formal letter from the cabinet,” Jha´s eldest son Krishna Jha told myrepublica.com. Senior Jha, however, denied comments.
The SC had nullified Jha´s oath in Hindi on July 23, 2009, terming it unconstitutional and later directed him to take oath in Nepalui if he wanted to continue in the post.
According to a source, the PM´s office is also sending a letter to President Yadav regarding the date for the oath taking ceremony. After that, the President´s Office will initiate necessary steps for the ceremony likely to be held on Sunday.
“Do everything without dragging our institution into controversy,” President Yadav had told the team that met him Thursday.
Jha´s lawyer Mithilesh Kumar Singh told myrepublica.com that Jha would take the oath in Maithili. “He will never take the oath in Nepali," he added. “But he will sign the text of the oath in Nepali.”
Minister Singh said they were also instructed by the President to arrange the oath taking ceremony in coordination with the Office of teh Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and the President´ Office.
Singh, Minister for CA Affairs Minendra Rijal, Attorney General Bharat Bahadur Karki and Secretaries Trilochan Uprety and Madhav Paudel had reached the President´s Office.
The government recently amended the Interim Constitution for the seventh time to allow even the President and Vice President to take oath in their mother tongues.
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