KATHMANDU, Jan 17: The Impeachment Recommendation Committee of the parliament has decided to consult with legal experts of the government over the fate of the impeachment motion filed against the disqualified CIAA chief Lokman Singh Karki.
After the 11-member committee failed to reach to a conclusion on whether to proceed ahead with the impeachment motion or not, the committee decided to consult with the secretary of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, the attorney general and the chairman of the Law Commission on Tuesday.
Lawmakers from the ruling Nepali Congress (NC), CPN (Maoist Center) and opposition CPN-UML held differing views about the fate of the impeachment motion during the committee’s meeting on Monday.
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Deepak Kuinkel and Gyanendra Bahadur Karki of NC were of the view that the committee shouldn’t proceed forward with the impeachment motion as Karki has already been dismissed by the Supreme Court from the post.
“As the SC verdict has already annulled his appointment as the CIAA chief and the constitution or any law has not mentioned anything about proceeding impeachment motion during such a situation, the committee decided to consult with legal experts,” said Kuinkel of NC.
Committee members from the Maoist Center also had similar opinion in the meeting, said one of the participants.
Lawmakers from the main opposition UML including Rewati Raman Bhandari and Keshav Badal, however, had insisted on preparing a report of the committee after probing Karki’s activities when he was at the helm of the anti graft body.
“The committee decided to hear the opinion of the legal experts before reaching to a decision on whether to start investigation over Karki’s activities during his tenure or just study the verdict of the SC,” said Bhandari of UML.
According to rule 170 of the parliamentary regulations, the committee can summon Karki within seven days after initiating the study of the impeachment motion. As the committee had started studying the impeachment motion, only four days remains for the committee to summon Karki. But Karki, has already flown off to Canada on Sunday, before the parliamentary special committee reached any decision.
