In the absence of the Parliamentary Hearing Committee the 11 nominated justices of the SC cannot be confirmed by the Parliament

The Judicial Council (JC) headed by Chief Justice Kalyan Shrestha nominated 11 justices for the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The JC which is short of two members to be appointed by the Prime Minister and Nepal Bar Association decided to nominate seven sitting judges from the appellate courts and four others, including a former CA member/lawmaker, from among the legal practitioners. As per the constitutional provision, the nominated SC justices must pass the Parliamentary hearing process before they assume office. But the Parliament Secretariat has informed the JC saying that it could not conduct the Parliamentary hearing right away as the Parliament has not enacted the Parliament Regulations as per a provision in the new constitution. It is mandatory to conduct a Parliamentary hearing for any person nominated as a justice for the SC and other members of the constitutional bodies and ambassadorial appointment. The provision of parliamentary hearing was put in place in the now-defunct Interim Constitution and the same was given continuation even in the new constitution to make sure that the JC or government has made right nomination in right place.

After the promulgation of the new constitution the second Constituent Assembly was dissolved and the 601-member body was converted into a parliament which will last for two more years to come. As the CA has been converted into the Legislature-Parliament it has to pass the new Parliamentary Regulations to handle the parliamentary proceedings. The new Parliamentary Regulations could not be enacted on time due to differences of the major parties on some issues. In the absence of the Parliamentary Hearing Committee the 11 nominated justices of the SC cannot be confirmed by the Parliament. It is not clear how long it will take to enact the Parliamentary Regulations and form the Parliamentary Hearing Committee as the parties have yet to settle most of the issues of the regulations.

The Parliamentary Regulations could not be enacted on time because the Nepali Congress was busy in its 13th national convention and the current parliament session was prorogued on February 17, five months after the new constitution came into force. The parties, however, had enough time for discussions on the Parliament Regulations that governs the parliamentary proceedings. The major parties and the Parliament Secretariat should have contemplated beforehand that nothing could move ahead without the regulations in hand. It is the weakness on the part of Speaker Onsari Gharti that she could not rope in chief whips of all the political parties, especially the major ones, on passing the parliament regulations on time. But it should not be construed that the 11 nominated justices can be sworn in as SC justices bypassing the parliamentary hearing process, which is the prerogative of the sovereign parliament. Tradition has it that no persons nominated for the SC judgeship have been rejected by the Parliament Hearing Committee in the past. But the committee can, at least, raise questions, if any, about the professional qualification and integrity, working experience and moral conduct of the persons nominated for SC judgeship by the JC. This tradition must be kept to uphold the parliamentary supremacy.

Probe irregularities

The Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies closed its offices from Sunday. The defiant manpower agencies say they were compelled to do so because of the arbitrary arrests of some foreign employment entrepreneurs. The law enforcement agencies were taking action them for being involved in human trafficking which is a serious offence. Such manpower agencies, say the police, were indulging in various other irregularities. It is common knowledge that the some manpower agencies are fleecing their clients and minting money. The authorities should take immediate action against these cheaters.

However, some believe that the police have become too harsh after they raided the offices of some of the manpower agencies and arrested the proprietors. They were even accused of torturing some of them. As there is a lot of irregularities in transaction of money in the manpower agencies the police should always be on the lookout of them. Meanwhile, many Nepali migrants to foreign countries have fallen victims to the erring manpower agencies.