Kathmandu, January 4:

The Judicial Council today told the commission investigating action initiated by the disbanded Royal Commission for Corruption Control(RCCC) against democratic leaders during the royal regime that it had not given permission to judge Shambhu Khadka to work as RCCC secretary.

The JC is headed by Chief Justice Dilip Kumar Paudel.“The JC today wrote to us, saying it had not given permission to Khadka to work as the RCCC secretary,” said a member of the Commission headed by former Appellate Court Judge Madhav Prasad Ojha. Before appointment in the RCCC, Khadka was working as a district court judge.

“We had urged the JC to furnish a copy of the decision taken by the JC on Khadka’s appointment to the RCCC. The 1990 Constitution does not allow any judge to take up administrative assignment,” the member added.

Khadka, currently working as a judge at the Dipayal Appellate Court, informed the commission today that he could not be present at the commission because he could not get an air ticket to fly to Kathmandu. The commission also quizzed a former RCCC member, Shambhu Khanal. Stating that he was not a judge, Khanal claimed he had decided cases as per the “decision of the then government.” “We asked him to prove he was qualified to decide cases, which he could not,” said a member of the commission, Ram Prasad Gaudel.