Kathmandu, January 4, 2007

Citing serious differences with its chairman, Supreme Court justice Min Bahadur Rayamajhi resigned from the Judges’ Society today.

The society is headed by the seniormost SC judge, Justice Kedar Prasad Giri. Rayamajhi is the second most senior judge of the Supreme Court. The Judges’ Society works for the welfare of judges and for the promotion of the rule of law.

According to a source at the SC, Justice Rayamajhi has accused Justice Giri of not doing enough to promote the rule of law and maintain the independence of the judiciary and the justice system.

When contacted, Justice Rayamajhi confirmed that he had resigned from the society. Working as the Acting Chief Justice, Giri had recently said there would be no problem in adopting a provision in the draft of the Interim Constitution that will give the Prime Minister the power to appoint the Chief Justice.

Giri had said there was no other option except to give the authority to the Prime Minister to appoint the Chief Justice. Giri had also claimed that the King was not the head of the state, saying he was suspended as the head of the state.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has called a full-court meeting of its justices tomorrow to discuss controversial provisions on judiciary figuring in the draft of the interim constitution.

The justices will discuss provisions of the Interim Constitution, which state that the Supreme Court’s annual report must be submitted to the Prime Minister and the same should be discussed in the parliament.

Nation’s taps to run dry today

The Joint Struggle Committee of the Nepal Water Supply Corporation employees’ association today decided to halt distribution of water tomorrow all over the country to protest the passing of the bill to amend Nepal Water Supply Corporation (NWCS) Act which will entitle the government to handover the government-owned water distribution mechanism to a foreign company.

Despite the protests from activists and staffers of the Nepal Water Supply Corporation the bill was passed yesterday. As per the agreement with the donors, the passing of bill was necessary to receive loans for the construction of the tunnel of Melamchi Water Project.

“We will not distribute water throughout the country tomorrow. We will also stop all administrative works. In addition to our regular protest programme, we are going to organise other protest programmes as well,” said Raj Kumar Thapa, the coordinator of the Joint Struggle Committee.

They have also decided to hold dharna, raise slogans at the NWSC head office and also hold chakkajam tomorrow.

The employees also burnt a copy of the bill in the office premises of the Kathmandu Valley and destroyed the board of Kathmandu Valley Water Board at Tahachal today.