SC moved against 4 CIAA commissioners' appointment

KATHMANDU: A writ petition was filed at the Supreme Court today against the appointment of four commissioners of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority.

Daksha Bahadur  Kshetri filed the petition against Acting CIAA Chief Deep Kumar Basnyat and three other commissioners- Savitree Thapa Gurung, Ganesh Raj Joshi and Navin Kumar Ghimire saying that they did not fulfill the constitutional qualifications stated in Article 119 (5) of the Interim Constitution of Nepal, under which they were appointed as commissioners.

The President, the Constitutional Council, the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers and the Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee are also made defendants in the case.

The petitioner said that the defendants had served in the government; but to be able to hold the post of CIAA commissioners, they needed to have 20 years of experience in the field of accounts, revenue, engineering, law, development and research.

Article 119( 5) of the then Interim Constitution stipulates, "No person shall be eligible to be appointed as the Chief Commissioner or a commissioner unless he/she possesses the following qualifications:- (a) holds a Bachelor's Degree from a university recognized by the Government of Nepal, (b) is not a member of any political party immediately before the appointment, (c) has at least twenty years experience in the field of accounting, revenue, engineering, law, development or research, and a distinguished person, (d) has attained of forty five years of age, and (e) has possessed a high moral character."

The case was filed at the time when a case against the appointment of Lok Man Singh Karki as the Chief Commissioner of the constitutional body is being reviewed by the apex court.

The Court has fixed the date of December 1 to conduct the next hearing on the case.

Karki, however, has been suspended as an impeachment motion has been filed against him at the Parliament.