Four former Supreme Court justices in Nepal called the Oli’s decision to dissolve the House of Representatives ‘unconstitutional,’ saying there is no article in the constitution that allows such action, reported The Himalayan Times.

Former CJs Min Bahadur Rayamajhi, Anup Raj Sharma, Kalyan Shrestha, and Sushila Karki issued a joint statement on Friday and stated the decision was taken by stepping on articles that aren’t provisioned by the Constitution.

“Other than rights that are clearly authorized by the Constitution, it does not appear that such rights can be created, assumed or can be said to be held to dissolve the House of Representatives,” they said in the joint statement as reported by The Himalayan Times.

On December 20, Prime Minister Oli recommended the dissolution of the lower house of parliament which was later approved by President Bidhya Devi Bhandari within hours. Oli resorted to the extreme step after facing pushback from the party rival Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

What used to be a political crisis of the ruling party, with Oli’s decision, turned into a constitutional crisis of the country thereafter. Currently, the Supreme Court is hearing around 22 petitions, challenging the constitutional validity of the December 20 move.