Joshee was rejected for the post of CJ, not that of justice

Kathmandu September 20

The ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) is considering to move impeachment motion against the senior-most justice of the Supreme Court Deepak Raj Joshee, who was rejected for the post of chief justice by the Parliamentary Hearing Committee on August 3.

NCP Chief Whip Dev Gurung told THT that NCP parliamentary party  was ‘under intense pressure’ to move impeachment motion in the House.

“If the leaders give a green signal, we’ll move the impeachment motion,” he said and added that top guns of the party were mulling over it.

NCP parliamentary party deputy leader Subas Chandra Nembang has started a signature campaign among his party’s lawmakers to get Joshee impeached. When asked if the NCP was preparing to register an impeachment motion against Joshee, Nembang neither confirmed nor denied. Multiple NCP sources, however, said lawmakers’ signatures were being collected.

A lawmaker told THT that a blank paper was doing the rounds seeking NCP lawmakers’ signatures. According to her, some lawmakers were verbally told to sign the blank paper while others received SMS for the same.

The ruling coalition of the NCP and the Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal have two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives, enough to pass an impeachment motion.

The Parliamentary Hearing Committee had rejected Joshee for the post of CJ on August 3 for failing to present solid work plan and vision to lead the judiciary and for not giving satisfactory answers to questions posed by lawmakers about his conduct, integrity and capability. The PHC also suspected whether Joshee’s academic certificate was authentic.

Meanwhile, a source in Joshee’s Private Secretariat told THT that he had not reached any understanding with the Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs on resigning from his post as reported in the media.

The source added that he respected the PHC’s decision and went on a month-long leave, but there was nothing that barred him from doing his job as a justice. “The PHC raised two questions about the work plan and academic certificate. He has no comments on the PHC’s rejection of his work plan but on academic certificate, he has already issued a press release telling the government to investigate his academic certificates if it suspects their genuineness,” he added.

Constitutional expert Bhimarjun Acharya said that PHC’s rejection could not be a ground for impeachment of Joshee because he was rejected for the post of CJ and not that of justice. “If lawmakers want to impeach him, they should have fresh grounds for the same. I do not think they have any,” he said.

As per the constitution, one-fourth of the members of the House of Representatives can move an impeachment motion against the chief justice or any justice of the Supreme Court on grounds of serious violation of the constitution and law, his or her office or his or her inability to discharge his or her duties because of physical or mental reasons. It adds that if the motion is passed by two-thirds majority of the total number of members of the joint session of both houses of Parliament, s/he shall ipso facto be relieved of his or her office.