• Speaker announces date • CPN-MC chief whip reads out charges against CJ
KATHMANDU, MARCH 13
The House of Representatives will discuss the impeachment motion filed against Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana from Wednesday.
Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota announced this today in the HoR after CPN-Maoist Centre Chief Whip Devendra Prasad Gurung, one of the movers of the impeachment motion, sought a debate on the motion in the Lower House of the Parliament.
The speaker adjourned the HoR till Wednesday amidst continued obstruction by CPN- UML lawmakers.
A total of 98 lawmakers from the ruling coalition parties, including Gurung, had registered the impeachment motion against Rana at the Parliament Secretariat on February 13.
Lawmakers from three coalition partners - the Nepali Congress, the CPN-MC, and the CPN (Unified Socialist) - had filed the impeachment motion against Rana invoking Article 101 (2) of the constitution, listing 21 grounds for impeachment against him.
Gurung read out the impeachment motion in the House, including 21 allegations against Rana.
He said the impeachment motion was filed against Rana because he failed to uphold democracy, human rights, the rule of law, and independence of the judiciary. Gurung said that Rana had sought a quid pro quo deal from the executive and the Judicial Council.
He said Chief Justice Rana promoted corrupt behaviour, anomalies, and aberration in the judiciary. He said brokering thrived in the judiciary during Rana's term and he assigned cases to his favourite judges and Rana promoted factionalism in the judiciary.
Gurung said the impeachment motion was moved against Rana as all other avenues to check him had failed.
The Nepal Bar Association, which first sought Rana's resignation and later urged political parties to impeach him, continues to protest against Rana.
Dissident justices that boycotted benches agreed to hear cases only after the SC went for lottery-based cause list. Dissident justices had also decided not to share a bench with Rana.
Gurung said since Rana did not fulfil the pledge he had made to the Parliamentary Hearing Committee during his hearing, he was unfit for the post of chief justice.
In today's House meeting, CPN-UML lawmaker Bhim Rawal and Nepal Workers and Peasants Party lawmaker Prem Suwal opposed India's 'unilateral dam building' on the Mahakali River near Darchula district.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 14, 2022, of The Himalayan Times
