Kathmandu, January 5:

The Judicial Council today nominated 10 justices in the Supreme Court, for the posts that were lying vacant for over a year and recommended them for parliamentary hearing.

The JC meeting headed by Chief Justice Kedar Prasad Giri made 60 per cent nominations from career judges and 40 per cent from legal practitioners. However, the JC has set a basis for not appointing SC judges on the principle of inclusion.

“We felt that the inclusive principle is not suitable for the judiciary. But we have nominated women and Madhesi judges based on their performances,” a JC member said, adding, “We have unanimously developed a practice of merit-based appointment as the principle of inclusion is not suitable for the judiciary.”

The JC has picked Krishna Prasad Upadhyaya and Prem Sharma for permanent postings. Upadhyaya is the chief judge at Nepalgunj Appellate Court while Sharma is the chief judge at Janakpur Appellate Court.

The JC has nominated Rana Bahadur Bam, Mohan Prasad Sitaula, Abadesh Kumar Yadav and Girish Chandra Lal for ad hoc judges’ posts. Bam, Sitaula, Yadav and Lal are the chief judges in Patan, Butwal, Tulsipur and Dipayal appellate courts respectively. It also nominated four senior legal practitioners Bipulendra Chakrawarti, Sushila Karki, Prakash Chandra Sharma Osti and Bharat Raj Upreti for the posts of ad hoc judges in the SC. Ad hoc judges are appointed for the period of two years.

Chakrawarti had refused the ad hoc posting during the royal regime three years back saying that he was appointed to a post junior than Pawan Kumar Ojha. “We have picked the chief judges for the permanent postings as they are senior among all nominees,” Senior Justice at the SC and an ex-officio member in the JC Min Bahadur Rayamajhi said.

JC members Moti Kaji Sthapit and Basudev Dhungana and ex-officio members Minister for Law, Justice and Constituent Assembly Affairs Dev Gurung and Senior Justice Rayamajhi also took part in the meeting.

Though Parliamentary Hearing Committee is yet to elect its chairman, an official at the Constituent Assembly said today that the committee would conduct hearing on time. “There won’t be any difficulty just because the post of chairman is lying vacant in the committee,” CA spokesperson Mukunda Sharma said.

Nepal Bar Association general secretary Raman Kumar Shrestha, however, expressed dissatisfaction over the decision. “We had tried to block some of the nominations, but we failed,” Shrestha said, adding, “The JC has nominated some judges like their promotion.” He also said the JC had disappointed the lawyers by nominating legal practitioners for just 40 per cent of the seats despite the NBA demanding 50 per cent seats.