KATHMANDU, Nov 21: The Judicial Council (JC) has completed the preparation of recommending candidates for Supreme Court (SC) justices.

The JC, which has not been able to recommend the names of SC justices for a long time, is prepared to recommend the names on Tuesday.

“There has been a delay in recommending the names of the justices for various reasons, probably the names of the justices will be recommended for the vacant positions on Tuesday,” said a Judicial Council source, “It will be decided on Tuesday whether to proceed with the process considering the difference of opinion in office-bearers or to recommend six names by leaving one position aside.

If we consider the appointment of Justice Binod Sharma a few months ago as an exception, no justices has been recommended to the SC since mid-July 2021. Currently, one-third positions of SC justices are vacant.

As seven out of 21 positions of justices are vacant, only 14 justices are working regularly. Sources said that the members of the judicial council, who sat informally on Monday, have almost finalized the list and only some simple differences of opinions are left to be resolved.

According to a member of the judicial council, there is no agreement among all the officials who are in the discussion of the recommendation regarding a couple of candidates.

According to those members, out of the seven vacancies, a rough plan has been made to appoint a maximum of two justices from legal practitioners and up to five from justices who are in the judicial service.

The member of the Judicial Council  said that there was a verbal agreement to keep one position vacant in case of disagreements between officials and recommend others. He said, “If no solution is found, there are preparations to recommend six people by keeping one position vacant.”

In the constitution, there is a constitutional provision that the posts of SC justices, including constitutional office-bearers, must be filled one month before they become vacant. But due to various reasons, the regular justices recommendation process has been obstructed for two and a half years.

The Judicial Council and the Judicial Service Commission were obstructed after legal practitioners and justices of the SC protested against the then Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JBR.

Due to confusion for several months, the name of another justices could not be recommended to replace Judge Purushottam Bhandari, who retired in May 2021.

Deepak Kumar Karki Kamu became the Chief Justice immediately after the impeachment of the then Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher JBR on February 13, 2022 and the way to activate the Judicial Council was started. Since 2022, there seems to be a delay in the appointment of justices in the SC.

One month before the retirement of the most senior justice Meera Khadka on May 16, 2022 another judge should have been recommended in her place. After his retirement, Tej Bahadur KC retired on May 25, 2022. After the retirement of Justice Anil Kumar Sinha immediately after Dashain, the number of vacant judges in the SC has increased to seven. Chief Justice has not been appointed in six out of seven high courts including the SC.

 
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