Kathmandu, March 10:

The Judicial Council (JC) is doing final preparations to appoint over 35 judges in appellate courts across the country very soon. The council, headed by Chief Justice Kedar Prasad Giri, will be holding a meeting within this week to take a decision on appointment of the judges. “The meeting will be held soon,” Nahakul Subedi, spokesperson for the JC, said.

According to another source at the JC, even some senior advocates were ready to join the appellate court job but Nepal Bar Association, the umbrella organisation of lawyers, was against the idea. “The senior advocates should be appointed only in the Supreme Court,” Raman Kumar Shrestha, General Secretary, Nepal Bar Association, said. The council had sought the NBA’s help to select the bar practitioners for the job in appellate courts.

“We have sought to appoint the senior advocates in the apex court and the young lawyers in the appellate courts because the senior advocates’ posting in appellate courts would downgrade them,” Shrestha said. “We have already expressed our disagreement in this regard with the JC members a few days ago,” he added.