Kathmandu, April 12

The annual report submitted by Auditor General Tankamani Sharma to President Bidhya Devi Bhandari today stated that former chief justice Gopal Parajuli’s refusal to return the Supreme Court’s vehicle amounted to arrears.

The report stated that Parajuli, who was supposed to return the SC’s vehicle seven days after retirement as per Section 7 (5) of Remuneration, Service Terms and Facilities of SC Justice Act, had not returned it yet.  As per the law, if a retired justice wants to procure the vehicle s/he had used during his/her service, s/he could do so by paying the original price, stated the report. However, the retired justices were violating this provision. The report stated that the arrears of the Supreme Court under the vehicle heading had increased. The auditor general, in his last year’s report, had also stated that other former CJs had also not returned vehicles to the SC.

Office of the Auditor General stated in its report that Rs 10,500,000 advance amount was given to 10 office bearers and 17 court officials for foreign visits, but they did not reimburse the amount till the time of audit. It stated that the arrears of the SC and 72 subordinate courts amounted to Rs 53,000,000.