Editorial

Unjustifiable

Published On: May 1, 2017 12:45 AM NPT By: Republica  | @RepublicaNepal


CJ impeachment 
The way impeachment motion was brought against Chief Justice Sushila Karki is a blatant attack on the independence of the judiciary. It is also a case of abuse of the executive and legislative powers of political parties. There is no basis to the allegations the ruling Nepali Congress-Maoist coalition have leveled against Karki—that she interfered with the functioning of the executive, that she was biased in the famous ruling on the appointment of Nepal Police IGP, that she exhibited authoritarian tendencies in the judiciary.

While some decisions of the Karki-led Supreme Court might be questionable (even the IGP appointment case attracted a lot of controversy), Karki has done nothing to be sacked, one month before the end of her term as Chief Justice. In fact, it was Karki’s court which courageously decided to reopen the case of appointment of errant CIAA chief, Lokman Singh Karki, and to ultimately dismiss him deeming his qualifications inadequate for the remit of the job. Sushila Karki is also known as someone who is fiercely independent and not afraid to do what she believes is right, even while she knew her decisions would not be popular among powerful interests. 

 And impeachment is a crude political tool, to be employed only in emergencies and with extreme caution. Our major political actors are establishing a troubling precedent by resorting to it whenever a senior civil servant is seen as acting against their interest. This is not to suggest that public officials abusing their powers cannot be impeached, only that there should be solid basis for such impeachment. For instance, if Chief Justice Karki had been found involved in corruption, or if it could be proven that some of her decisions were influenced from the outside, then impeaching her could have made sense. Yet, by the look of things, the reason the impeachment motion was registered in parliament, leading to CJ Karki’s immediate suspension from her duties, was because she basically declined to blindly rubberstamp some questionable government decisions. At its heart, this is a decision to cow the judiciary and to keep it under the thumb of the executive and the legislative. Other senior civil servants are already being threatened with impeachment if they don’t toe the line of big parties. For instance, Chief Election Commissioner Ayodhee Prasad Yadav has been forced to relax election code of conduct under government pressure, threatened as he reportedly was with possible impeachment.  

Sushila Karki was appointed the Chief Justice by the same political parties that have now tried to remove her. If she was unfit, she should never have been picked for such an important position. But having appointed her—and it was a thoroughly deserved appointment considering her impeccable past record—the same parties have now decided to remove her without any good justification. In fact, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba have disgraced themselves by so openly meddling in the judiciary. The coalition government is now tottering with Deputy Prime Minister Bimalendra Nidhi resigning and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party also threatening to pull out against the decision to remove the first female Chief Justice. Most importantly, this decision to remove the Chief Justice comes at a time when all the energy of the government should have been invested in holding timely local election. The country could have done without this huge distraction on election eve. We hope that the government will now come back to its senses and take back the mistimed and malafide impeachment motion. Then it should redirect its focus on timely local election. But it will be a matter of damage control; considerable damage has already been done to Nepali democracy. 
 


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