Transfer of judges at 11th hour by outgoing CJ 'against tradition'

KATHMANDU, June 23: With his tenure as the head of the apex court about to expire in two weeks, Chief Justice Ram Kumar Prasad Shah has transferred 51 appellate and district court judges on deputation in the last few days.

Shah transferred 11 judges, including one chief judge and five judges of appellate courts, on Tuesday and 24 others, including four appellate court judges, on Thursday. Likewise, 16 judges, including four of appellate courts, were transferred on deputation on Monday.As the Constitutional Council has already recommended Justice Kalyan Shrestha as the new chief justice and his appointment process is already on course, Shah's move is considered as against the tradition. Shah is retiring on July 8 because of age limit.

"Though transfer and placement of judges are the sole right of the chief justice, transferring judges on deputation at the eleventh hour, after the process of appointing a new chief justice has been initiated, seems odd and against the tradition," said a former justice.

Among the transferred judges, Shambhu Bahadur Khadka, the chief judge at Appellate Court Tulasipur, has been deputed at the Patan Appellate Court, while Judge Madhav Prasad Pokharel has been transferred from Ilam Appellate Court to Pokhara. Likewise, Kishor Silwal has been transferred to Patan from Biratnagar, Birendra Kumar Karna from Butawal to Biratnagar, Prem Raj Karki from Pokhara to Butwal and Thir Bahadur Karki from Patan to Tulasipur.

Similarly, Ramesh Bahadur Thapa has been transferred to Surkhet from Biratnagar, Mohammad Sabir Hussain to Biratnagar from Rajbiraj, Bishnu Dev Paudel to Rajbiraj from Hetaunda and Yuvaraj Subedi to Hetaunda from Surkhet.

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