CJ Giri calls for independent and efficient judiciary
Kathmandu, January 9 :
Chief Justice Kedar Prasad Giri today called on the Constituent Assembly to ensure more power to the judiciary in order to make the institution more independent and efficient.
“We may not advocate for many other conditions but the judiciary should be more independent and powerful,” the Chief Justice said, speaking at a programme on “Judicial structure for federal Nepal” jointly organised by the Constitutional Lawyers Forum and Consortium of Constitutional Experts.
The Chief Justice also called to discuss on whom and how to make the judiciary accountable to as which was a matter of debate in the recent days. “The judiciary should be independent and efficient with the accepted principle of laws,” Giri added.
“Turning the judiciary into federal structure is not an easy job,” he said. “It is necessary to study the structure of judiciary in many countries such as India, Canada, Germany and South Africa because the structures of these countries are more suitable to Nepal.”
“Despite the fact that the structure of the judiciary to be based on the future structure of the state, the wisdom of the CA will be vital to determine the transformation,” Giri added.
Chairman of the Constituent Assembly Subas Chandra Nembang said the independence of the judiciary, the rule of law and federalism would be the basic characteristics of the new constitution. “They must be guaranteed at any cost by encompassing many other issues,” he added. Nembang also expressed his hope that the CA would be able to draft the constitution on given time-frame. “Though there are different political parities with different views, these situations will be exploited as an opportunity to resolve the problems through talks,” he added.
Commenting on a working paper presented by former attorney General Badri Bahadur Karki, Supreme Court Justice Bala Ram KC said that the judiciary should be under the unitary structure but suggested many reforms in the unitary structure regarding the appointment process of judges, prosecution and taking actions against corrupt judges.
“The recruitment process, the duty of the Judicial Council, the Attorney General and the CIAA should be reformed. It will provide chances to reform the justice dispensation process too,” Karki added.
The political parties representing the CA have declared that the future judiciary would be under unitary structure through their election manifesto, Karki said. “It will be feasible for the structure but three-tire of judiciary will be more feasible for Nepal comprising of the Supreme Court, High Courts and District Courts through modification for more reliability,” he added.