Kathmandu, April 11

Senior most Justice of the Supreme Court Sushila Karki will be the acting chief justice from Wednesday as incumbent CJ Kalyan Shrestha retires from service tomorrow.

Assistant Spokesperson of the SC Bishwa Raj Paudel told THT that the seniormost justice of the Supreme Court automatically becomes the acting chief justice.

Prime Minister’s Press Adviser Pramod Dahal said a meeting of the Constitutional Council (CC) held yesterday recommended the name of Justice Karki as the new chief justice.

He said   the CC recommended Karki’s name for the post of new CJ after PM Oli went to the hospital yesterday where Speaker Onsari Gharti was undergoing treatment to consult her about yesterday’s CC meeting and the nomination of Justice Karki.

Onsari Gharti’s Personal Secretary Nishan Magar, however, said that the PM had told her that a meeting of the Constitutional Council had been called in the evening yesterday.

The Speaker said she wanted to participate in the CC meeting that would recommend Justice Karki as the new CJ.

Karki will be the first female CJ of Nepal.

Magar said the Speaker had no objection to nominating Justice Karki as the new CJ, but she also wanted to be part of the meeting of the CC that would nominate her as the new CJ.

According to Magar, the Speaker had also told the prime minister yesterday that it would be better if a new meeting of the CC was convened after she was discharged from hospital so that she could attend it.

Magar said Gharti would talk to the prime minister about the CC meeting once she was discharged from hospital.

The president appoints the chief justice as per the nomination of the Constitutional Council if the nomination is confirmed by the Parliamentary Hearing Committee.

Karki, a permanent resident of Biratnagar, Morang, became judge (ad hoc)   of the Supreme Court on January 22, 2009 and a permanent judge on November 18, 2010. Karki was born on   June 7, 1952.

Karki, who graduated from Mahendra Morang Adarsha Campus, Biratnatgar, in 1972 obtained a post graduate degree in political science in 1975 from Banarus Hindu University and a law degree in 1978 from Tribhuvan University.

She joined the bar in 1979 and became senior advocate in 2004.