KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 1
Members of the Impeachment Recommendation Committee reminded suspended Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana that allegations against him were serious and he should offer credible defence rather than question fairness or legality of the impeachment process.
Appearing before the House of Representatives' panel today, Rana questioned the fairness of the committee as five members of the committee are from among the 98 lawmakers who had filed the impeachment motion against him.
Rana said it was a generally agreed principle of justice that the accuser should not be in a position to judge complaints.
He also questioned the letter sent by the Secretary General of the Parliament informing him of his suspension the day impeachment motion was moved in the HoR, arguing that suspension should have been from the day the Impeachment Recommendation Committee acted on the motion.
Committee member Rekha Sharma asked Rana not to question the integrity of committee members as they were inducted in the committee in accordance with the House of Representatives' rules that did not bar lawmakers signing the impeachment motion from being part of the Impeachment Recommendation Committee. Sharma said Rana's argument that lawmakers copied NBA's 21-point charter of demands in their impeachment motion was an affront to the lawmakers.
Committee member Kalyani Kumari Khadka asked Rana what could be more glaring evidence of his inefficiency than the four-month long deadlock in the judiciary before the impeachment motion was filed against him.
Khadka warned Rana not to lecture members on laws, constitution, or rules while responding to their queries.
Another committee member Yashoda Gurung Subedi said committee members would decide the fairness of the process and Rana should not worry about it.
"There are serious allegations against you and I want you to seriously present your defence. I do not get a sense that you are serious in your presentation," she warned.
Committee member Min Bahadur Bishwakarma said it was an established practice to issue suspension letter to the constitutional post holder the day an impeachment motion was registered against him/her.
Rana said the impeachment motion was filed against him with prejudice and challenged lawmakers to prove any allegation against him. He said the committee should have sent the evidence to him when it decided to summon him.
Rana claimed that he held lawmakers in high regard and his defence arguments should not be taken otherwise.
Committee member Min Bahadur Bishwakarma asked Rana why he listed the Lalita Niwas landgrab case, where Deep Basnyat was a case party, repeatedly for Justice Hari Krishna Karki and once for Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut bench.
He pointed out that both had to recuse themselves from the case.
Rana said it was impossible for him to know in advance that the assigned justices had a reason to recuse from the case.
Bishwakarma also questioned his leadership in the judiciary citing the SC's decision to nullify the unification of the CPN-Maoist Centre and the CPN-UML which was not the remedy petitioner Rishi Kattel had sought in his petition.
Rana said the SC bench's decision in the case was appropriate as writ petitioners always urge the court to issue a certain remedy or other appropriate remedies or orders.
Bishwakarma retorted by saying, "If your argument is true then the Nepali Congress, which became a unified party in 1948, will return to the same year if anybody challenged its unification."
He said Rishi Kattel had urged the SC to ask the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) to change its name as it mimicked his party's name, but the SC decided to nullify the unification of the CPN-MC and the CPN-UML.
Committee member Lalbabu Pandit asked Rana how to put an end to the trend of lawyers approaching the CJ and other justices seeking appointment to the judiciary.
Rana said the Justice Hari Krishna Karki-led committee had suggested remedial approaches, but the Nepal Bar Association had not even bothered to go through the report.
Rana will have to appear before the panel on Sunday as well to respond to lawmakers' queries.
A version of this article appears in the print on September 2, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
