Consequently, the court has not yet decided the date for hearing on the case pertaining to alleged rigging of April 10 by-election in Dhanusha-5, according to a source at the Constituent Assembly.
“The judges have taken the government decision to slash the allowance as humiliating and insulting. So, they have already informed the chief justice of their reluctance to work at the court any more,” a knowledgeable source told myrepublica.com on Monday, requesting anonymity.
In a decision on September 7, 2008, the Maoist-led government had revoked the allowances for the three judges of the court, established to take up cases related to the Constituent Assembly elections. But later, the government had decided to provide the judges 25 percent of their salary as allowance. Before this, the allowance was 60 percent of the salary according to the rules and regulations of the Election Commission.
Officials at the court and the chief justice on Monday worked hard to persuade the judges, namely Anup Raj Sharma, Top Bahadur Magar and Ram Kumar Prasad Sah, to conduct hearing on the application relating to the controversy over by-election of Dhanusha-5. CPN-UML leader Raghubir Mahaseth had won the election. Other candidates have challenged Mahaseth’s win.
The judges at the Constituent Assembly Court have already told Chief Justice Kedar Prasad Giri that the decision to slash the allowance is humiliating. Then the chief justice asked them to conduct the initial hearing because the plaintiffs have sought the court to stay the by-election result of the constituency.
“It is our free choice not to work at the Constituent Assembly Court anymore,” said another justice working at the court.
kiran@myrepublica.com
Related story
JC recommends 35 judges for district courts and six judges for...
