KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 7
Secretary General of the Parliament Secretariat Bharat Raj Gautam today courted controversy by issuing clean chit to Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana, who was suspended as CJ on February 13 when 98 lawmakers from the ruling alliance filed an impeachment motion against him.
The Supreme Court wrote a letter to Gautam asking him to explain if he had the authority to give clean chit to Rana. The Nepal Bar Association has sought action against Gautam for giving clean chit to Rana on impeachment motion which was sub judice in the House of Representatives a 'perpetual' state body.
On the other hand, the government has said that impeachment motion filed against Rana was still sub judice in the House and the new House of Representatives would discuss the motion before taking a call on it.
Minister of Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki said at a press briefing that the impeachment motion would be discussed in the new House of Representatives and the House would take a call on the motion.
An impeachment motion can be passed only if twothirds majority of the House endorses it.
Rana had argued that since the impeachment motion could not be decided in the HoR before elections, the same could not remain valid after elections as other bills pending in the HoR also die along with the end of the HoR's tenure. The movers of the impeachment motion have, however, argued that impeachment motion is different from bills and it cannot die with the end of the HoR's tenure.
Gautam informed key government bodies, including the President's Office, the Prime Minister's Office, the Constitutional Council, and the Supreme Court that since the new election for the HoR had already been completed, the letter written by the Parliament Secretariat on February 13 about the CJ's suspension was no longer valid and Rana should be allowed to work as the CJ.
CJ Rana had filed a petition at the Parliament Secretariat saying that he should be given clean chit as the impeachment motion filed against him in the previous HoR was rendered invalid on account of HoR election.
Spokesperson for the Parliament Secretariat Rojnath Pandey said Secretary General Gautam's letter meant that like any other bill or motion that became invalid after HoR elections, the impeachment motion against Rana also became invalid after the end of the HoR's tenure. He said the Parliament Secretariat would respond to the SC letter only after holding a meeting on Friday.
A version of this article appears in the print on December 8, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
