Nepal parliament forms 11 membered committee to initiate proceedings on impeachment of CJ

Kathmandu [Nepal], March 6 (ANI): Nepal’s House of Representatives has moved forward with an impeachment motion filed against Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana by forming 11 membered committee members on Sunday.
The 11 membered impeachment recommendation committee comprises four members from the CPN-UML, 2 each from Nepali Congress and Maoist Center and one each from CPN-Unified Socialist, JanataSamajbadi Party (JSP) and Democratic Socialist Party (DSP).
The 11 members in the committee are UML’s BishnuPoudel, ShivamayaTumbahamphe, Krishna Bhakta Pokhrel and LalBabuPandit, NC’s MeenBahadurBishwakarma and Ram BahadurBista, Maoist Center’s YashodaSubediGurung and Rekha Sharma, CPN-US’s KalyaniKhadka, JSP’s PramodSah and DSP’s Ekwal Miya.
According to HoR rules of procedures, the recommendation committee now should select a chairperson from among the members and initiate proceedings at the earliest.
A total of 98 lawmakers from the ruling coalition had filed an impeachment motion against CJ Rana on February 13. The impeachment motion details 21 charges against Rana such as failing to protect the integrity of the judiciary, check corruption, and abuse of constitutional responsibility, among others.
According to the rules, Rana will get a chance to present his case within seven days after the commencement of proceedings before the impeachment recommendation committee.
If the defence presented by CJ Rana is not satisfactory or if he does not appear in person to present his case within the stipulated time, the committee will forward a report with its recommendation to the Parliament.
The committee has a maximum of three months to submit a report with recommendations. If the recommendation committee submits a report stating that the impeachment is valid and if the parliament passes it by a two-thirds majority, Rana will be relieved of his post.
As per parliamentary mathematics, there are a total of 271 members (including the house speaker) in parliament. Opposition CPN- UML has the highest 98 lawmakers followed by Nepali Congress with 63, Maoist Center with 48, CPN- Socialist with 23, JSP with 21 and LSP with 13 seats.
The JanataSamajbadi Party (JSP) who are part of the ruling coalition has expressed their surprise over the impeachment motion filed by the ruling coalition and claimed it to be tabled without consultation. Further increasing suspense, the party on Monday decided to reveal their stance at the time of voting.
Provided the mathematics in the parliament, the House Speaker cannot exercise electoral power while 4 lawmakers from the ruling alliance have been relieved from their duty which cuts short 5 votes of the ruling coalition. It needs at least two-thirds– One hundred and 81 votes to ratify the impeachment motion.
It has been a Hercules task for the ruling alliance as it still will fall short of 12 votes despite the parties on board the government voting in favour of the impeachment. This leaves the alliance to look out for defection from opposition lawmakers to pass on the motion.
Earlier in the years, Chief Justice Rana had landed into criticism for attending a meeting of the Constitutional Council held after the issuance of an ordinance by the then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
An ordinance issued back on the time had reduced the requirement of opposition leader and house speaker in the meeting reducing the majority required to make the appointments.
The agitating advocates and justices also have accused Chief Justice Rana of “bench shopping” meaning hearings were held for purpose of making a favourable decision for one of the parties. There are also allegations that the court has failed to do any work of reform. Overall, there are allegations of anomalies, irregularities and corruption in the judiciary.
Chief Justice for the last time landed in controversy after his brother-in-law GajendraBahadurHamal was appointed as a non-parliamentary minister to confirm the allegation that he was seeking a share.
Chief Justice Rana has maintained that he will not resign and that he is ready to face impeachment by parliament which is the constitutional process to remove the chief justice. (ANI)