KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 11

Secretary General of Parliament Secretariat Bharatraj Gautam today responded to the Supreme Court's letter saying that whatever he has to say about his decision to give clean chit to Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana he will state in a written reply to the constitutional bench of the apex court.

According to Bimal Paudel, spokesperson for the SC, Gautam said that he would state his reasons for giving clean chit to Rana to the constitutional bench as the bench had stayed his decision and also issued a show cause notice to him.

The day Gautam gave clean chit to Rana, the SC administration sent a letter to him asking him to justify his authority to do so.

On Friday, the constitutional bench stayed Gautam's clean chit to Rana who was suspended as chief justice on February 13 when 98 lawmakers from the ruling coalition filed an impeachment motion against him in the Parliament.

The bench had asked defendants to furnish their written replies within seven days.

The Impeachment Recommendation Committee, which investigated allegations of impeachment against Rana, had submitted a report saying that the new HoR should take up the case. Rana, however, has argued that the impeachment motion should become void with the end of the HoR's tenure as is the case with bills registered in the HoR.

A version of this article appears in the print on December 12, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.