Appointment of justices at SC stalled due to absence of parliament to conduct hearings

Published On: December 16, 2022 02:00 PM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

KATHMANDU, Dec 16: The appointment process of three justices proposed for the Supreme Court (SC) has stalled due to the absence of parliament. Nita Gautam Dixit, Binod Sharma and DN Parajuli are among the candidates recommended by the Judicial Council for the appointment.

The 45-day period has expired without their parliamentary hearing. However, no appointment has been made yet. Article 129 (2) of the Constitution states that the appointment of the Chief Justice on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council and other justices of the Supreme Court on the recommendation of the Judicial Council shall be made by the President.

The Judicial Council has to initiate the appointment to the President. However, it has not taken any initiative on this yet. While the parliamentary hearing committee was proceeding with the process by inviting complaints, the parliamentary hearing process stalled after the end of the term of parliament on September 17.

Their parliamentary hearing was not held after the end of the term of parliament. Now 45 days of appointment recommendation have been cut off as there is no hearing. It is stated in Rule (2) of the Federal Parliament Joint Meeting and Joint Committee (Operation of Work) Regulations, 2075BS, 'On the list received for the parliamentary hearing, the committee shall hear within 45 days from the date of receipt of the letter from the concerned body, prepare the opinion of the committee for the proposed position and send it to the concerned body.'

It is mentioned that if the committee fails to provide its decision to the concerned body within that time, there will be no hindrance for the appointment to the post sent for hearing.

The Judicial Council meeting held on September 6 had recommended the names of Dixit, Sharma and Parajuli as justices of the Supreme Court and a letter was sent to parliament on the same day. It has been almost 100 days since the information came to the Parliamentary Hearing Committee, but there has been no work regarding the issue. Three weeks have passed since the November 20 elections.