JC cannot probe my case: Jha

Kathmandu, October 3:

Accusing the Supreme Court (SC) and the Judicial Council (JC) of humiliating him

by demoting him, demoted SC judge Paramananda Jha told The Himalayan Times today that he would not resign from the post of Chief Judge of the Biratnagar Appellate Court.

“I still have one-and-a-half-year tenure,” said the erstwhile SC judge, adding: “I will take up the assignment at the Biratnagar Appellate Court once I get a letter from the SC.”

“The JC has no authority to probe into any case in which an SC Judge is involved,” Jha said.

“The Parliament, not the JC, was supposed to probe into my case,” Jha said, adding: “The panel report has no legal validity.”

The SC and the JC had demoted him and told him to work as the Chief Judge of the Biratnagar Appellate Court. He accused the SC and the JC of treating him with prejudice.

Defending his order that acquitted a drug-peddler, Dil Bahadur Gurung, one and-a half-year ago, Jha said he had upheld human rights of Gurung by releasing him. The JC headed by Chief Justice Dilip Kumar Paudel had demoted him on the basis of a recommendation made by a three-member SC Justices’ panel, which investigated the drug peddler acquittal case. The panel had termed the acquittal illegal.

Though the Biratnagar chapter of the Nepal Bar Association has been opposing his appointment at the Biratnagar Appellate Court, Jha said he is not least bothered over their opposition. “The SC and the JC must think why they decided to send me there,” Jha added.

“I had released the accused on the basis of facts and evidence,” Jha said, adding he had done nothing wrong in his years-long service in the judiciary.

“I was never subjected to such humiliation before,” Jha said, adding: “I do not know why people have been targeting me.”

“The JC showed prejudice against me immediately after I joined the SC,” Jha claimed. “The SC and the JC gave permanent status to some of my juniors, but demoted me,” Jha added. “Even after forming a panel, they took a long time in deciding my case.”