KATHMANDU, OCTOBER 26

Fifteen justices of the Supreme Court met Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana today and asked him to quit in the face of recent controversy surrounding him.

Rana faces accusation of entering an implied quid pro quo deal with the executive by seeking to get his brother-in-law appointed in the Sher Bahadur Deuba Cabinet 'for invalidating the KP Sharma Oli government's move to dissolve the House of Representatives'. Rana also faces accusation of delaying the hearing of cases filed against appointments to constitutional bodies as he had secured posts for his favourites in the bodies.

According to an SC justice who was among those who met the CJ, all justices were one on seeking Rana's resignation in order to save the dignity of the judiciary and the CJ's image. They told Rana that he should quit since he was not capable or efficient to lead the judiciary.

'We justices are firm on our decision. The only thing that we need to discuss tomorrow is whether to boycott the benches or conduct hearings. We know that halting of the hearings has created problems for those who want their cases settled soon,' the justice said.

According to him, Rana told them that he would not quit just because somebody from the street or some media outlet asked him to do so. He said he was appointed the CJ according to the constitutional provision and if he had to leave the job, then it should be in consonance with the constitutional provision.

In effect, the CJ made it clear that he would have to be impeached if anyone wanted to remove him.

The chief justice can be removed from office only through impeachment motion, which should be passed by two-thirds majority of the House of the Representatives.

CJ Rana told the justices that he could consider resigning from his post if four other justices of the constitutional bench also resigned. The justice who met Rana said the CJ raised the issue of resignation of other justices just to deflect blame because other justices wanted him to quit for trying to seek benefits from the executive and delay hearing of the cases filed against appointments to the constitutional bodies.

'Four other justices who invalidated the HoR dissolution have not sought any favour from the executive. Why should they be blamed?' the justice said.

He added that the justices wanted the CJ to quit because he acted against the code of conduct when he sought favours from the executive. 'If judges have to resign just because of the verdicts they had delivered in a particular case, then no judge will remain in the courts,' the justice said.

Meanwhile, justices' rebellion against the CJ affected hearings of cases today as well. A total of 216 cases were listed for hearing but the SC could not conduct hearing in any case.

A version of this article appears in the print on October 27, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.