KATHMANDU, APRIL 17
The three major parties - Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre - have agreed to call the Constitutional Council meeting soon and nominate the chief justice.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba went to UML Chair KP Sharma Oli to discuss the appointment of the CJ and some other issues, including the Truth and Reconciliation Bill.
The PM's move to forge consensus among the big three parties on CJ appointment comes days after Nepal Bar Association submitted a memorandum to the PM urging him to appoint the new CJ soon.
Senior-most Justice of the Supreme Court Hari Krishna Karki has remained the acting CJ for the last 14 months.
The legal fraternity has said delay in the appointment of CJ is bad for the independence of the judiciary as the acting CJ cannot perform with high morale.
Emerging from the meeting NC Chief Whip Ramesh Lekhak told mediapersons that PM Dahal, NC President Deuba and UML Chair Oli agreed to hold meeting of the Constitutional Council soon to nominate the CJ. Lekhak said the leaders also agreed to discuss other issues, including the Truth and Reconciliation Bill and try to resolve issues on the basis of consensus.
This means the ruling party alliance which wanted to pass the TRC bill through fast-track process has budged on its stance and agreed to more debate on the issue.
Rights activists and conflict victims have rued that some provisions of the TRC bill contradict the principles of international human rights laws and if the bill is passed in its current form, it will not do justice to conflict victims.
One of the arguments against the TRC bill is that it does not address the statute of limitation issues in cases of sexual offence committed during the Maoist insurgency. They have also said that the bill's proposal not to list murder as a serious human rights violation is erroneous.
CPN-UML Whip Mahesh Bartaula told mediapersons that his party chair told the PM and NC president that the new CJ should be nominated soon as the judiciary was being led by an acting CJ for months. "We told the ruling party leaders that the CJ should be nominated as soon as possible and we would extend our cooperation," he added.
He also said his party Chair told the ruling parties' leaders that the TRC Bill should be thoroughly debated before it was enacted into law. "We are party to multiple international laws, including the human rights related convention. We should not make TRC laws against the provisions of international law, Supreme Court decisions, and against the interests of conflict victims," Bartuala said and added that the new TRC laws should help the country bring out the truth in conflict era cases and prevent recurrence of conflicts.
He said that stakeholders should always remain vigilant that the international community did not question Nepal's TRC laws.
He further said his party chair also told the meeting that the ruling parties should move ahead with the spirit that the Parliament belongs to all the parties and they should give the UML its rightful share in parliamentary committees.
A version of this article appears in the print on April 18, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
