PHC disapproves Joshi to be Chief Justice
(Kalika Khadka)
Kathmandu : 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.
