Kathmandu, December 30

The Parliamentary Hearing Committee conducted confirmation hearing for chief justice nominee Cholenedra Shumsher JB Rana, but failed to complete the proceedings due to lack of time.

PHC Chair Laxman Lal Karna postponed the hearing till 11:00am on Tuesday, saying he could not continue the proceedings today as the staffers of the Parliament Secretariat would not stay after 4:00pm. The staffers, who were denied overtime pay, have refused to stay after office hours.

Members of the Parliamentary Hearing Committee who spoke today posed tough questions to Rana seeking clarifications from him on complaints lodged against him.

Nepal Communist Party (NCP) lawmaker Shiv Kumar Mandal wondered why Rana said in one of his verdicts that card game ‘Marriage’ was a game of intellectuals and not a crime of gambling. He also sought Rana’s response on the accusation that he blackmailed former chief justice Surendra Prasad Singh to get appointed as a judge.

Mandal sought Rana’s clarification on  his decision to allow Pramod Bikram Shah of Parsa to hold the title of ‘a public pond’ spread in four bigha land and to allow former princess Prerana Rajya Laxmi Devi Singh to hold the title of 15 ropani and one ana land in Chhauni that was gifted by her father former king Gyanendra.

Another NCP member, Suman Raj Pyakurel,  wanted to know Rana’s views on a decision passed by  the SC bench comprising Justice Sushila Karki and Tarka Raj Bhatta that had ordered the Judicial Council to take action against Rana and two other judges of the Special Court for ‘wrongly acquitting’ former  minister Jay Prakash Prasad Gupta.

Another NC lawmaker Gyanendra Bahadur Karki wanted to know why there was divergence in SC verdicts in cases of similar nature.

Another NCP lawmaker Yogesh Bhattarai asked Rana what he would do with a justice who was still working at the SC disobeying the PHC decision. He was referring to Justice Deepak Raj Joshee who was rejected by the PHC for the post of CJ in August.