Kathmandu, August 1:

Representatives of the Nepal Bar Association have urged the Chief Justice-headed Judicial Council to scrutinise and end the nexus between judges and non-governmental organisations.

Pointing at “nexus between some judges and NGOs,” NBA general secretary Raman Kumar Shrestha told this daily. “These judges are found to be favouring NGOs one way or the other.”

Shrestha was speaking after a meeting between representatives of the Bar and JC members Motikaji Sthapit and Basudev Dhungana.

The representatives accused JC members Sthapit and Dhungana of failing to reform the judiciary and punishing corrupt judges.

“We have urged the Judicial Council to monitor the nexus between the judges and the NGOs,” Shrestha said. “This nexus is one of the major reasons behind irregularities in the judiciary. We have found some judges attending functions of NGOs as chief guests when cases of those NGOs are under trial at the court,” he added.

He claimed that judges of the Supreme Court, appellate court and district courts had such nexus with NGOs.

NBA president Bishwo Kanta Mainali, vice-presidents Hari Prasad Uprety and Mukunda Sharma Paudel, general secretary Shrestha, treasurer Sabita Bhandari Baral and central committee members drew the attention of JC members Sthapit and Dhungana to this nexus.

“We have urged the JC to strictly enforce the judges’ code of conduct that prohibits such relations,” NBA vice-president Uprety said. The NBA representatives also accused JC members of appointing their near and dear ones as judges. “We have demanded that judges be appointed on the basis of qualification and experience. The JC members should stop appointing their near and dear ones as judges. This malpractice must be brought to an end at the earliest,” Uprety added.