KATHMANDU, JULY 10

Renuka Sah, who was removed as High Court judge by the Judicial Council for 'concealing her ineligibility' for high court judgeship, said the JC's decision was prejudiced and she would challenge her removal in a court of law.

Sah said if she did not challenge the JC's decision to remove her as a high court judge, it would mean that she had accepted the JC's charge of ineligibility.

'Judgeship is an honour and the JC gave me this honour. I had not filed an application for the job,' Sah said.

She said Sallu Tiwari had challenged the appointment of eight high court judges, including her appointment. In that case, the Supreme Court had quashed the writ petition on 2 June 2019 observing that it would be prima facie wrong to conclude that an authentic body as the JC would err in nominating judges. 'If the SC verdict was wrong, a review petition had to be filed, but that judgment was final,' Sah argued.

Sah said Acting Chief Justice Deepak Kumar Karki, who is also the chair of the Judicial Council, decided to remove her as a high court judge, but when she was nominated by the JC in 2019 for high court judge, Karki had also consented as he was a member of the JC on account of being the senior-most justice of the Supreme Court. 'Had Justice Karki any doubt about my eligibility, he should have written a note of dissent back then,' Sah said and added that although she did not plead in the court, she had provided pro bono service to her clients from 2006.

Sah said she had received permission from Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training CTEVT to practise law during off-duty hours and at her leisure time. The CTEVT had decided on 28 July 2003 to allow her to practise law. She and her lawyer partners have a law firm Kathmandu Lawyers Pvt Ltd, which was registered in their name on 14 February 2012.

'Sometimes I took leave from CTEVT to provide legal counselling and other services to my clients,' she added. Sah said Article 140 (2) of the constitution that lists criteria for high court judgeship had not stated that court practice, particularly pleading, was the sole criteria for appointment.

'When I practised law, lawyers were not mandated to register their firms,' she said and added that she had, however, registered her law firm at the Company Registrar Office 10 years ago. Sah had worked as an associate with Senior Advocate Sher Bahadur KC and Ramji Bista in the past.

'Eligibility for high court judgeship does not require maintenance of court appearance record. Providing legal opinion as a pro bono lawyer is also the job of a lawyer. Chamber practice is lawyering,' Sah said.

She said she had worked as a high court judge for the last four years and nobody raised questions on her performance.

Sah said negative comments were made against her since her appointment in the high court by those people who might have grudges against her father Ram Kumar Prasad Sah.

My father is a man of integrity and everybody knows it. If he wanted to appoint me as a judge, he could have done it when he was a senior justice of the SC or the CJ,' Renuka Sah said.

A version of this article appears in the print on July 11, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.