‘CIAA has no jurisdiction to probe affairs of TSC’

Kathmandu, August 6

Advocate Lalit Basnet today argued before the Supreme Court that erstwhile Tax Settlement Commission was a quasi-judicial body, and therefore, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority had no jurisdiction to probe acts carried out by Director General of Inland Revenue Department Chudamani Sharma as a TSC office bearer.

Basnet represents Sharma’s wife Kalpana in a habeas corpus writ petition seeking her husband’s release.

The Supreme Court had sent Sharma to judicial custody on Tuesday.

Stating that tax officials, including the DG of IRD and the TSC, had judicial powers, Advocate Basnet said the CIAA had no authority to probe judicial actions of the TSC.

He said the government needed to defend TSC office bearers as it  benefited from the tax collected by the TSC. He said the CIAA fixed excessively high bail amount for Sharma ignoring the principle of bail. “When an accused takes part in a trial, bail is not sought from the accused. This principle was not followed in Sharma’s case,” Basnet argued.

Earlier, appearing on behalf of the CIAA, Advocate Parsuram Koirala argued that since it was a habeas corpus petition, the SC could order the government to release Sharma only in case of illegal detention. He also argued that the CIAA had filed a corruption case against Sharma on July 16 and the anti-graft body had detained him as per the procedure established by law. Koirala also argued that since a corruption case against Sharma was sub judice at the Special Court, the Supreme Court could not intervene in the case. He said that the Special Court would decide whether or not the accused committed the crime.

On the question of whether or not the TSC acts were quasi-judicial, Koirala said, “A quasi-judicial body weighs evidences in a case, conducts hearing and adjudicates the case but in this case, the TSC did not do anything and hence it was not a quasi-judicial body.

A five member full bench of justices Deepak Raj Joshee, Deepak Kumar Karki, Kedar Prasad Chalishe, Sharada Prasad Ghimire and Anil Kumar Sinha has been hearing the habeas corpus petition.

The bench scheduled the next hearing of the case for Wednesday. The bench also asked the attorneys of the petitioner and respondents to submit their pleading notes before the hearing.