Kathmandu, January 19:

Chief Justice Dilip Kumar Paudel today administered the oath of office to the Supreme Court judges and chief judges of some Appellate Courts as per the Interim Constitution 2007.

All the Supreme Court judges took the oath before the Chief Justice expressing their commitment to the Interim Constitution and the spirit of the Jana Andolan II that established loktantra in the country.

A few judges however, questioned the choice of words in the oath which was related to expressing commitment to the spirit of the Jana Andolan and lokatantra.

They claimed that some words were not suitable for the judges’ oath text because they were supposed to take oath under the Constitution.

Article 162 (2) of the Interim Constitution has provided that the judges should take fresh oath under the constitution or face dismissal.

According to Supreme Court spokesperson Durga Prasad Dawadi, Chief Justice administered the oath to the chief judges of Patan, Jumla and Dipayal Appellate Courts and the Chief Judges administered oath to the judges under them.

Ad hoc judge Pawan Kumar Ojha, who was appointed by King Gyanendra during his direct rule, and the then RCCC secretary, the Appellate Court Judge Shambhu Bahadur Khadka, also took the oath of office before the Chief Justice Paudel.

Ojha was the Attorney General and later appointed as a judge in the Supreme Court during the royal regime and Khadka had worked as the secretary of the disbanded Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC) without permission of the Judicial Council.

Khadka was recently interrogated by the commission headed by former Appellate Court Judge Madhav Prasad Ojha led Commission, for his involvement in use of excessive force against democratic leaders.