SC quashes petitions on CJ appointment

Published On: June 8, 2018 08:20 AM NPT


KATHMANDU, June 8: The Supreme Court (SC) has quashed writ petitions lodged demanding its order to the government and the Constitutional Council (CC) for the appointment of the Chief Justice (CJ).

A single bench of Justice Cholendra SJB Rana quashed the petitions filed by advocates Santosh Bhandari and Laxmi Prasad Pokhrel demanding apex court order to the government and the CC for the early appointment of the CJ following the hearings conducted on Thursday.

The bench quashed the petitions even without demanding reasons from the authorities concerned. But the bench has not issued the text of its judgment, so its not clear on what ground it has quashed the petitions.

Lawyers who had argued on behalf of the petitions had asked the bench to demand reasons from the authorities concerned why the process for appointing the CJ has not been initiated yet.

In their petitions, the petitioners had claimed that the authorities concerned have been delaying the CJ appointment process despite the mandatory provisions for the appointment of CJ within a month of the position becoming vacant, as per Article 284 of the constitution. Acting CJ Deepak Raj Joshee has been heading the judiciary for the last three months after the then CJ Gopal Parajuli was relieved off his responsibilities through a letter from the Judicial Council Secretary Nripadhoj Niroula. Parajuli had resigned from his position in response to the letter on the following day.


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