By Claudia Parsons and Gustavo Palencia
TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The Honduran Congress on Monday avoided a vote on whether ousted President Manuel Zelaya can return to power after a coup last month, saying it was a matter for the Supreme Court to decide.
Congress head Jose Alfredo Saavedra said deputies could not rule on Zelaya's return, part of a plan by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias to end the Honduras crisis, because it is a constitutional question.
The United States insisted on Monday it wants leftist Zelaya reinstated, but made no commitment to tightening sanctions to pressure the de facto government that replaced him after a June 28 coup.
Zelaya, an ally of Venezuela's socialist President Hugo Chavez, was ousted as he sought a referendum vote to change the constitution. He is now in exile in neighbouring Nicaragua.
The Honduran Congress did create a committee on Monday to study some elements of Arias' proposal, including an amnesty for political crimes, and it was expected to reach a decision by Thursday, Saavedra said.
Talks between the rivals in Honduras ran into trouble last week over the question of Zelaya's return as president -- a condition that Honduras' de facto leader Roberto Micheletti and his supporters have said is impossible and illegal.
Micheletti said he would nevertheless consult Congress and the Supreme Court over whether Zelaya can return.
A Supreme Court source said the court had considered the proposal on Monday but there was no word on when it would announce a judgement.
The coup is Central America's worst political crisis in two decades and a test of U.S. President Barack Obama's commitment to improving relations with Latin America.
(Additional reporting by Marco Aquino and Esteban Israel, editing by Claudia Parsons and Todd Eastham)
