KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 13
Supreme Court Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana has automatically been debarred from carrying out his duties following the registration of impeachment motion against him.
Around 100 lawmakers from Nepali Congress and its coalition partners in the government had filed the impeachment proposal against Rana at the Federal Parliament secretariat, today.
Read More: Impeachment motion registered against Rana
According to the Constitution of Nepal, "After the commencement of impeachment proceedings underclause (2), the Chief Justice of Nepal or Judge of the Supreme Court, member of the Judicial Council, chief or official of the Constitutional Body shall not be allowed to discharge the duties of his or her office pending the settlement of such proceedings."
Following Rana's 'suspension', senior most justice at the Supreme Court Deepak Karki will discharge his duties in capacity of the acting Chief Justice.
Karki will also officiate duties as the acting head of the Constitutional Council, Judicial Service Commission and the Judicial Council before retiring on grounds of age in October.
Rana will remain suspended pursuant to Article 101 (6) as long as the impeachment motion proceeds in the parliament.
The CJ will can removed from their post if a two thirds majority of both Houses of parliament vote in favour of impeachment motion.
However, the proceedings that will determine the outcome are uncertain as the House has failed to conduct business owing to protests by main opposition party CPN-UML for months now.
