KATHMANDU: As expected, the Constitutional Council today unanimously recommended senior-most Supreme Court Justice Min Bahadur Rayamajhi as the Chief Justice of Nepal.

The CC upheld the tradition of respecting seniority while selecting Rayamajhi for the top judicial post, even though the ruling UCPN-M advocated against giving continuity to the long-practised tradition.

“Not a single member of the CC expressed interest during the meeting,” CA chairman Subas Nembang, an ex-officio member of the CC, told this daily. Minister for Law, Justice and Constituent Assembly Affairs Dev Gurung had publicly said the UCPN-M would prefer an alternative to the tradition of respecting seniority.

All the members of the CC were present in the meeting. The CC would forward its decision to the parliamentary hearing committee tomorrow.

“Since all the candidates were equally capable, we did not even think about Rayamajhi’s alternative,” Nembang added. The Supreme Court

had forwarded the names of Justices Rayamajhi, Anup Raj Sharma, Ram Prasad Shrestha, Khila Raj Regmi, Bala Ram KC and Top Bahadur Magar to the CC, as all of them have three years’ experience required for the post of permanent justice in the SC. Nembang had started consultations at the political level after the Maoist ministers aired their views against upholding the tradition of respecting seniority.

Meanwhile, CJ-designate Rayamajhi has expressed his happiness over the decision. He said he would concentrate on reforming the judiciary. “I will reveal my plans soon,” he added. Born on December 12, 1944, in Helauchha in Bhojpur, Rayamajhi began his judicial career as a section officer. He has worked as a district judge, zonal judge, appellate court judge and chief judge of appeal.

He is known as a courageous judge, as he had taken the decision to scrap the Royal Commission for Corruption Control and had upheld media freedom even during ex-king Gyanendra’s direct rule. He was appointed as the SC Justice in 2001.

Rayamajhi today consulted his close aides at the Supreme Court to strictly implement the recently issued code of conduct for the judges to promote judicial integrity and decide backlog cases. He added that he would concentrate on providing justice to commoners, rather than inaugurating workshops and seminars.

He will retire on December 12, 2009.