KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 15

The Judicial Council today recommended 27 judges for appointment in the High Court. They will soon be appointed by the chief justice as per due process.

JC Spokesperson Man Bahadur Karki said those recommended for high court judges were shortlisted candidates. He said shortlisting was done in accordance with the new directives prepared for high court judges.

Out of 27 nominees, 18 are district court judges, three are judicial service employees and six are lawyers. Karki said 29 judges' positions in high courts were still vacant and the JC would fill them later. Asked when the JC would fill those vacancies, Karki said nothing could be said with certainty.

' JC took almost a year to fill 27 vacancies, so I cannot say when other vacancies can be filled,' he added. Among the 27 nominees for high court judge, only one is Madhesi (Yogendra Prasad Sah) and Advocate Purna Prasad Rajbanshi who hails from Jhapa identifies himself as Aadivasi.

There are 22 nominees from Khas Arya group.

Advocate Sunil Kumar Patel said the JC recommendation violated Section 5 of Judicial Council Act, 2016, which states that the Judicial Council, in accordance with the principle of proportional inclusion, shall recommend Nepali citizens for appointment in the post of judge.

Patel said that the JC blatantly violated the principle of proportional representation as most of the nominees were from Khas Arya social group.

He said the nomination continued the tendency of maintaining the Khas Arya group's hegemony in the judiciary.

Patel said failure to maintain inclusion in the judiciary resulted in marginalised groups not getting justice, particularly social and economic justice.

Mala fide prosecution is prohibited by law and we know that there have been cases of mala fide prosecution against members of marginalised communities.

The courts have not ordered prosecution of any police or government attorney for mala fide prosecution.

A lawyer who had applied for the high court judges' roster, said on condition of anonymity that Madhesi and other deprived social groups were denied rightful share in the recommendation for high court judges.

One can say as there are very few Madhesi career judges and hence very few nominees, but to rectify this, the JC had the option of bringing people from among Madhesi lawyers, but the JC did not do that, the advocate said.

He said Madhesi lawyers - Dipendra Kumar Sah, Bimala Yadav, Pawan Kumar Jaiswal and Ajay Patel - were not nominated for high court judges. The lawyer said the JC had the option of nominating people from marginalised groups from among judicial service employees, but all three employees nominated from among judicial service employees too were Khas Arya. Of the six lawyers, three are from Khas Arya - Achyutam Kumar Acharya, Govinda Joshi and Punyashila Dawadi Ghimire - two are hill Janajatis - Arjun Maharjan, Yagya Bahadur Ranamagar and one Madhesi Janajati - Purna Prasad Rajbanshi.

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