Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, July 21:

Even as the Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and ex-officio member of the Constitutional Council, Niranjan Kumar Thapa, told this daily today that “members of the Constitutional Council were contemplating ways to appoint the new Chief Justice (CJ),” a Supreme Court justice said an acting CJ may head the Supreme Court (SC) once the incumbent CJ, Hari Prasad Sharma, takes compulsory retirement on July 29. The SC may have to make do with an acting CJ since “neither the CJ nor other concerned officials can initiate the process of appointing the CJ once the post falls vacant,” the justice said. Generally,

the Constitutional Council recommends the name of the new Chief Justice to the King three weeks before the tenure of the incumbent Chief Justice ends. The Speaker of the House of Representatives and another ex-officio member of the Constitutional Council, Tara Nath Ranabhat, said recently that designation of an acting Chief Justice as per Article 87(4) of the

Constitution 1990 is the only way out.