Regmi’s tenure as the CJ, which will last for a little over three years, will be important for many reasons. It is during his tenure that the country is most likely to get a new constitution and therefore he has the very important responsibility of seeing to it that the statute guarantees judicial independence and constitutional supremacy.
Besides, he must continue the good work of his predecessor Ram Prasad Shrestha who set an example by handling important corruption and criminal cases himself rather than handing it over to junior justices as was the practice in the past. Regmi himself shared bench with CJ Shrestha in issuing many bold verdicts. Hence, we have every reason to believe that he will make no compromises during his tenure too. Then, there is the important issue of thousands of backlog cases that show our judicial system in bad light. After assuming office on Friday, he said that he would prioritize backlog corruption cases but will not issue verdicts in haste under the pretext of expediting them. We sincerely hope that the promise would translate into meaningful action.
While there might be detractors who argue that expecting too much from one person when the entire system needs a fix is asking for too much, we from the heart believe that a single honest individual with patience and perseverance has the capability of creating a big difference. For example, just look at a simpler analogy. Will it not reflect in the performance of a school in having a good principal over a bad one? It will. But what is important to note here is that because the post of CJ is so high-profile and important, decisions taken and changes brought about by him/her have ramifications at the national level.
Additionally, let us also bring to light what former CJ Shrestha had said just before his retirement : 60 percent of the corruption cases can be fixed if chief justice is bold and honest. Essentially, what Shrestha was highlighting was the power of an individual. Finally, in the same breath, we would like to extend our warmest wishes to CJ Regmi and tell him that we will be watching him very, very closely over the next three years.
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