According to the council's Krishna Giri, the council has written to Parliament to conduct the hearings, as per a provision in Article 292 of the Constitution, on the individuals recommended by it in a letter of March 2."As the council has already sent the recommendations to Parliament through a letter on March 2, the council on Tuesday urged parliament to conduct hearings in line with the constitutional provision," said Giri.
Along with Tuesday's letter, the council has attached its previous letter as well as documents justifying the necessity, relevance and basis for its recommendations.
The council on March 2 had forwarded the names of Deepak Kumar Karki, Kedar Chalise, Sharada Prasad Ghimire, Mira Khadka, Hari Krishna Karki, Bishwambhar Prasad Shrestha, Ishwar Khatiwada, Aananda Mohan Bhattarai, Anil Kumar Sinha, Prakash Man Singh Raut and Sapana Pradhan Malla as possible candidates for Supreme Court justices.
On March 6, the Parliament Secretariat had sent back the recommendations as per a decision of Speaker Onsari Gharti, arguing that the Judicial Council itself was yet to take full shape and also citing the lack of regulations for conducting parliamentary hearings on the recommendations.
Following the Speaker's move, tension had developed between the judiciary and the legislature. In an attempt to difuse the situation, Minister for Law and Justice Agni Kharel and Chief Justice Kalyan Shrestha had separately discussed the issue with Speaker Gharti on Sunday and Monday. Following these meetings, Gharti on Monday said her move was only meant to remind the council of the absence of a hearings committee and lack of the parliamentary regulations. She also said that she would move the hearings process forward if the recommendations are re-sent by the council.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Tuesday issued an interim order to the Parliament Secretariat and the Speaker to conduct parliamentary hearings for the 11 individuals recommended by the council. The single bench of Justice Jagadish Sharma Paudel also stated that Parliament's move in sending the recommendations back to the Judicial Council was erroneous on a prima facie basis.
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