KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 16

Eight constitutional bodies today said their serious attention had been drawn to the abrupt halt in hearing of regular cases, including habeas corpus, in the Supreme Court for the past two weeks and said it had deprived citizens of their right to prompt justice.

Issuing a joint press statement, the constitutional bodies lamented that mistrust between the bench and bar was unfortunate.

The chiefs and office-bearers of National Human Rights Commission, National Women Commission, National Dalit Commission, National Inclusion Commission, Indigenous Nationalities Commission, Madhesi Commission, Tharu Commission and Muslim Commission had signed the statement.

Eighteen of 19 justices of the apex court have refused to sit on SC benches until Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana steps down. Boycotting a full court meeting called by CJ Rana on October 25, the justices demanded Rana's resignation for allegedly undermining the integrity and independence of the judiciary. The justices pointed specifically to allegations of a relationship between Rana and the executive branch. They also cited allegations concerning the allocation of cases for hearing to specific justices, and failure to list hearings of a number of writs against constitutional appointments that the CJ had participated in making.

'As effective judicial proceeding is possible only through coordination, co-existence and coordination between bench and bar, the ongoing dispute does not augur well. It has resulted in obstruction to the implementation of the constitution, constitutionalism, rule of law, human rights of citizens and exercise of fundamental rights. No matter who is creating this problem, it cannot be termed a good move,' read the release.

The constitutional bodies said that the CJ and justices are equally responsible for justice delivery. 'Judiciary is a fusion of the CJ, justices, its employees and the bar. Since such a dispute or problem will ultimately pose a threat to the constitution and democracy, there is no other option but to sort out the problem by adopting legal, constitutional and judicial measures,' it added.

The constitutional bodies also called on the parties in the dispute to demonstrate maximum flexibility on their stances to resolve the present crisis in the judiciary, which they said would be in the national interest. 'We appeal to the parties concerned to find a solution to the deadlock in the judiciary through mutual dialogue for creating a conducive environment for regular hearings of cases,' they suggested.

Following the boycott by the SC justices, the Nepal Bar Association has also sought the chief justice's resignation.

A version of this article appears in the print on November 17, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.