KATHMANDU, Jan 4: A meeting of the Judicial Council (JC) headed by the newly-appointed Chief Justice (CJ) Cholendra SJB Rana on Thursday stripped the senior-most Justice at the Supreme Court (SC), Deepak Raj Joshee, of all his official responsibilities. The meeting also decided to remove Justice Joshee from his chamber at the SC.

A room shared by other SC staffers has been given to Justice Joshee in the annex of the SC though there is a practice of giving separate chambers to the justices of the apex court according to their seniority.   

Even though Joshee is an ex-officio member of the JC in his capacity as the senior-most justice of the apex court, he was not invited to Thursday’s meeting of the JC. Similarly, Joshee has also been removed from the five-member Constitutional Bench of the apex court.

The JC meeting also chose five justices for the Constitutional Bench. Chaired by CJ Rana, the Constitutional bench has justices Deepak Kumar Karki, Kedar Prasad Chalise, Meera Khadka and Hari Krishna Karki as its members. 

The JC meeting also removed Joshee from the position of chairman of the Mediation Council at the SC. Justice Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada has replaced Justice Joshee at the council. 

The meeting also decided to submit the annual report of the JC to President Bidya Devi Bhandari.

Immediately after assuming the top judicial position yesterday, CJ Rana decided not to assign any case to Justice Joshee, asking him to pave the way for resolving the current problem of the judiciary.

 
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