Kathmandu, April 2

The Judicial Council today recommended five justices for the Supreme Court and 18 judges for high courts.

Of the five Supreme Court justice nominees, two are career judges — Patan High Court Chief Judge Prakash Kumar Dhungana and Surkhet High Court Chief Judge Sushma Lata Mathema — while three are advocates — former attorney general Hari Prasad Phuyal, Senior Advocate Kumar Regmi and Advocate Manoj Kumar Sharma.

Phuyal is close to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Sharma is a nephew of former chief justice Damodar Sharma and Regmi, who is from Jhapa, is close to the Nepali Congress.

All the five Supreme Court justice nominees will have to face the Parliamentary Hearing Committee before their appointment.

Of the 18 judges recommended for high courts, three are special class officers of the judicial service, one additional judge of a former appellate court, six district judges and eight advocates.

Among special class officers, Deputy Attorney General Kiran Paudel has been recommended Patan High Court judge, Supreme Court Registrar Mahendra Nath Upadhyaya Patan High Court judge, Hetauda bench, and Truth and Reconciliation Commission Secretary Ramesh Dhakal Janakpur High Court judge.

Former additional judge at Lalitpur Appellate Court Nilam Paudel has been recommended as judge of Janakpur High Court, Rajbiraj Bench. Paudel is niece of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Ishwor Pokharel.

Sarlahi District Court Judge Rajesh Kumar Kaphle has been recommended as judge of Surkhet High Court. Rautahat District Court Judge Lekhnath Dhakal as judge of Janakpur High Court, Rajbiraj Bench, and Bhaktapur District Court Judge Mohammed Junaid Azad as judge of Biratnagar High Court.

The Judicial Council has recommended Chitwan District Court Judge Kul Prasad Sharma as judge of Patan High Court, Lalitpur District Court Judge Bal Mukunda Dawadi as judge of Janakpur High Court, Birgunj Bench, and Parsa District Court Judge Nagendra Lal Karna as judge of Surkhet High Court.

Among them, Dawadi, Karna and Azad had landed in controversy after complaints were filed against them in the Judicial Council alleging poor justice delivery. The council had also conducted investigation against them.

The seven advocates appointed as high court judges are Jagat Bahadur Thapa (Patan), Sarala Kumari Pandey (Patan), Bimal Subedi (Tulsipur, Nepalgunj bench), Renuka Shah (Biratnagar), Dal Kumar Khadka (Pokhara), Ujjwal Shukla (Janakpur) and Navaraj Thapaliya (Dipayal). The meeting of the Judicial Council that convened this morning also recommended Advocate Anju Upreti Dhakal as judge

of Biratnagar High Court with effect from April 16 when incumbent judge Umesh Raj Paudel retires from his post.

While Renuka Shah is daughter of former chief justice Ram Kumar Prasad Shah, Anju Upreti Dhakal is daughter of former Supreme Court justice late Bharat Raj Upreti. Thapaliya, who is from Nuwakot, is a former leader of the then UML-aligned student union.