The Supreme Court has now become a scapegoat of the ruling coalition with as many as 98 lawmakers registering an impeachment motion against Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana on Sunday, accusing him of failing to maintain the sanctity of the Judiciary and seeking power-sharing with the executive when the five-member constitutional bench delivered a verdict reinstating the dissolved parliament some six months ago. The lawmakers of the ruling Nepali Congress, CPN-Maoist Centre and CPN-Unified Socialist registered the impeachment motion against CJ Rana with the Parliament Secretariat, which forwarded it to the CJ on the same day. The CJ has been suspended from office until a final decision is taken by the Federal Parliament, which will form an 11-member panel of lawmakers to study the 21-point charges labelled against Rana. Senior-most Justice Deepak Karki has now taken charge of the apex court. The main opposition CPN-UML, immediately after registering the impeachment motion, called its secretariat meeting and termed it a ploy to destabilise the democratic system and to derail the upcoming local level election scheduled for May 13.

The UML has said it would respond with a fitting reply after holding a parliamentary party meeting scheduled for today. As warned earlier, the UML might also register an impeachment motion against four other apex court justices who had issued the mandamus order telling the President to appoint NC president Sher Bahadur Deuba as the Prime Minister on July 12. If the UML also registers an impeachment motion against four other justices, including Karki, they will also be suspended, creating an unprecedented leadership vacuum in the Judiciary.

The ruling coalition decided to file the impeachment motion against the CJ despite the fact that it does not have a two-thirds majority to pass the motion. Despite calls from the Nepal Bar Association to remove CJ Rana from office and continued refusal by the other justices to share the bench with the CJ for the last five months, PM Deuba had been resisting. But there has been a complete volte face by Deuba and his party after U.S. officials mounted pressure on the Prime Minister and his coalition partners to ratify the MCC (Millennium Challenge Corporation) pact through the parliament by February 28.

Political analysts believe that the impeachment motion was filed against the CJ mainly to pass the MCC from the parliament, acquit Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota of a murder charge and save the membership of 14 lawmakers of the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led CPN-Unified Socialist, who were expelled by the CPN-UML for their role against the party. A hearing on the 14 lawmakers expelled by the UML was scheduled for Sunday. But it was deferred all of a sudden following the registration of the impeachment motion against the CJ. Whatever reasons the ruling coalition has given from its side to justify the motion, one thing is clear: it wants the Judiciary to dance to the tune of the executive. The impeachment motion was filed in the parliament to serve the vested political interests of the ruling parties by jeopardising the independent posture of the Judiciary.

Put out fires

Mechinagar Municipality has earned the wrath of the locals for not repairing its fire engine in time, even as fire incidents take a toll on houses and industries. On Sunday, for instance, a fire caused by a short circuit burnt two houses to the ground in ward 6 of the municipality – damage that could have been averted had a fire engine come to the rescue. Houses apart, fires have also destroyed a noodle factory and a slipper industry in Mechinagar during the last fortnight, causing extensive loss to property because the sole fire engine is out of order for want of repairs.

With the onset of the dry season, fires will become a recurring phenomenon, especially in the Tarai belt, at times engulfing entire villages. It is, thus, important that the local levels have fire engines or fire-fighting equipment in place so that fire fighters can swing into action immediately. Apart from fires in the villages and towns, wildfires in the jungles are also adding to the list of calamities that Nepal is having to brace for in recent times. Last year, such wildfires burned for weeks after the police and army were unable to douse them. Staying prepared would prevent the loss of precious lives, property and natural resources.

A version of this article appears in the print on February 15, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.