Impeachment Recommendation Committee to submit report to parliament if parties reach consensus

Published On: September 17, 2022 09:15 AM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

KATHMANDU, Sept 17: The members of the Impeachment Recommendation Committee of the House of Representatives are divided on whether or not to submit the report on the suspended Chief Justice Cholendra SJB Rana.

After the statement on Friday, lawmakers belonging to the ruling Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist Center) are in favor of submitting the report to Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota before the end of the term of the House of Representatives on Saturday. However, the main opposition CPN-UML is in favor of not submitting the report stating that the study has not been completed. Lawmakers close to the ruling political party suspect that the suspended Chief Justice Rana will return to the Supreme Court if the report is not submitted. Their plan is to stop him from coming to court by submitting the report.

NC lawmaker Meen Bahadur BK, who is also a NC whip, said that the impeachment recommendation committee has to prepare the conclusions, decisions and recommendations section of the report. "After making a decision on Saturday, we are preparing to complete the report and register it in the Parliament Secretariat," he said.

Meanwhile, lawmakers belonging to the UML have maintained that no conclusion can be drawn without studying the document. According to the lawmakers belonging to the ruling parties, the term of the parliament will automatically end from Sunday and the impeachment will also be inactive in that case.

Rana was called by the parliamentary panel for a supplementary statement on Friday morning. His statement of 174 pages was read out by the committee. He refused to sign the statement without reading it. However, after the committee read out his statement, he started signing. But not all the pages have been signed. The committee has prepared to ask additional questions on him by signing the remaining page on Saturday. Also, the report is ready to be submitted on Saturday itself.

Meanwhile, the Judicial Council said that till July 2022, there is 5.9 million rupees in cash in the Bank of Kathmandu in the name of Rana. In the name of wife Reji, there is 1 ropani 8 annas 3 paisa 1 daam of land in Kathmandu. It is available in the details provided to the Parliament Secretariat that the land was bought for 80.26 million rupees in the year 2020 and Thamel's house has been secured as a loan of 95 million.