At present, a brigadier general, first class officer, heads the department. As the legal head of the department, s/he joins the three-member bench of the court, namely an appellate court judge and the defense secretary. But both the latter are special class level in terms of civil service ranking. [break]
“All the members of the bench should be equal in ranking. But the first class level legal department head has to join the bench whose two other members are special class” said the source, “So we have proposed to upgrade the department with Major General, special class officer, as its head to maintain the ranking,” said the source.
Defense Minister Bidya Devi Bhandari confirmed to myrepublica.com that efforts are under way so that the army´s plan will materialize.
The source said that the cabinet meeting scheduled for Wednesday is expected to approve the proposal.
If the proposal is approved, Nepal Army is likely to retain incumbent legal department chief, Brigadier General BA Kumar Sharma, by promoting him to the post of major general. If not promoted Sharma is retiring in two weeks after having served the national army for 32 years.
Defense Ministry sources further said that the upgrading of the department has been pushed particularly at this time in view of Sharma´s fast approaching retirement date.
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