Deepak Joshi
Kathmandu, Aug 3 – The parliamentary hearing committee (PHC) has ultimately disapproved Acting Chief Justice Deepak Raj Joshi for the post of Chief Justice. He was earlier recommended to the PHC for parliamentary hearing by the Constitutional Council.
The PHC meeting held Friday rejected Joshi to be the Chief Justice- first such case in Nepal’s parliamentary history. The rejection was decided with voting in the PHC. Among total 15 votes, 10 were against Joshi.Four PHC members from the Nepali Congress boycotted the voting.
Those to vote in the decisive process were nine lawmakers from ruling Communist Party of Nepal and one from the Federal Socialist Forum.
As per the federal parliament work operation rule 2075, if the two-thirds of the total number of PHC vote against the recommended person, he/she is rejected for the post.
PHC Chairman Laxman Lal Karna informed that voting process was adopted for deciding the fate of Joshi, and argued that it could not be said the Nepali Congress boycotted the committee process because it too had involved in the entire process.
The PHC members against Joshi furnished five reasons to disapprove him for the CJ post.
He is blamed of failure to come up with concrete concept and work plan for the reform in judiciary, inability to furnish genuine clarification of the complaints filed against him, no response to lawmakers’ query on his honesty and competence, suspicious educational certificates and dissatisfactory response on it and on the disputed cases he dealt in the past.
Setting these reasons, Joshi was rejected to be proceeded for the CJ.
Even the four lawmakers brought forth reasons to support Joshi to be CJ. They asserted that the Constitutional Council had already evaluated his social prestige, high moral character, honesty, public trust and professional capability and integrity.
Going back to the history of judiciary, then Prime Minister Tanka Prasad Acharya had sacked then Chief Justice Hari Prasad Pradhan.
To this unfolding situation, senior advocate Dr Chandrakant Gyawali reminds, “During the time of Tanka Prasad Acharya, the PM had the authority to sack or restore the CJ. So, Acharya later restored Pradhan to the post. Although it is the first such incident in Nepal’s history, there are a lot of incidents that the parliament hearing has rejected the recommendations in the US.”
Efforts to impeach then Chief Justice Surendra Prasad Singh were also made. Recently, even the first woman CJ Sushila Karki witnessed impeachment motion filed at parliament against her.
There was no provision of parliamentary hearing till the constitution of 2047 in Nepal. The interim constitution of Nepal 2063, for the first time, incorporated the provision of parliamentary hearing committee in the Article 155.
Similarly, Article 292 of the Constitution of Nepal 2072 has the provision of parliamentary hearing, where there would be representation of 12 members from House of Representatives and three from the National Assembly.
The Article 104 of the Constitution and Rule No 15 parliament operation regulation-2075 have the provisioned the formation of parliamentary hearing committee. The committee would make decision as per the same provision.
There is again growing concern who would be the Chief Justice after the PHC rejected Joshi.
To this, Gyawali said, “The PHC rejected the name of Joshi by using legal rights. Joshi can work as a Justice. Returning to duty or not on moral ground depends on his own decision after the PHC made dubbed him disqualified to hold top job of country’s judiciary.”
The Judicial Council had sent names of three SC Justices- Joshi, Om Prakash Mishra and Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana to PHC.
Now, the Constitutional Council will send names of a Justice out of remaining two for the hearing.
