KATHMANDU, JUNE 15

Acting Chief Justice Hari Krishna Karki who was nominated by the Constitutional Council for the CJ, appeared before the Parliamentary Hearing Committee and presented his 20-page work plan which he said he would implement if confirmed by the parliamentary panel for the top post of the judiciary.

Karki said he, if confirmed, would have a short tenure but he had prepared a work plan which could be a guideline for his successor. The judiciary has been working to ensure justice for all. He said he would have zero tolerance for irregularities and corruption. Karki said he would ensure strict compliance of Judges' appointment guidelines apart from ensuring inclusion in the appointment process.

Effective measures will be taken to implement the report of the panel that investigates allegations of anomalies in the judiciary.

The Acting CJ said that he would ensure transparency in the appointment of judges, deploy monitors to seek report about any corrupt practices and unnecessary delays in the judiciary and set up effective redressal mechanism in the judiciary.

Karki stated that he would ensure that the Judicial Council would prepare a software so that judges' judicial activities such as their verdicts/orders and quashing or upholding of their verdicts/orders by the higher courts could be recorded and that could be used for the appointment, transfer and promotion of judges, any punitive action against them or rewarding achievements.

A separate law shall be enacted and a separate mechanism shall be created to control middlemen.

SC has 23,850 cases to adjudicate and there are 4,184 pending cases that were admitted five years ago. Karki said that the case load was exceedingly high for the incumbent judges as some posts still remained vacant. He said efforts would be made to amend laws related to jurisdiction of courts whereby district courts, save exceptions, shall have original jurisdiction and high courts have final appeal jurisdiction. He said efforts would be made to make courts paperless and to enable case parties to seek their court dates electronically.

The Parliamentary Hearing Committee has scheduled another meeting with the Acting CJ tomorrow morning where members of the panel will ask questions and he will respond.

Lawmakers ask their own questions or from the 29 complaints lodged before the panel by the public.

Assistant Spokesperson for the Parliament Secretariat Dasharath Dahamala said that tomorrow's question-answer session with Karki may end tomorrow but if lawmakers need more time, they can schedule a third meeting with Karki.

Further rounds of meetings will be aimed at facilitating lawmakers to ask all questions that they may deem relevant and to give Karki a chance to respond to all those queries.

If confirmed, CJ Karki will work only for a few weeks as he is to retire on August 4 on age ground. It's been a practice that the CJ takes a few months paid leave before he/she retires.

A version of this article appears in the print on June 16, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.