KATHMANDU, May 7: The Constitutional Council is scheduled to meet at 5 PM today to move forward with the appointment process for the next Chief Justice (CJ) amid growing speculation over whether the government will uphold the long-standing tradition of judicial seniority.
The meeting was called by the Council Secretariat following the directive of Prime Minister and Constitutional Council Chair Balendra Shah.
The main agenda of the meeting is to recommend a candidate for the post of CJ. The meeting comes at a time when Prime Minister Shah has been stressing the need to embrace change.
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Speaker Dol Prasad Aryal, National Assembly Chair Narayan Prasad Dahal, Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Sobita Gautam, opposition leader in the House of Representatives (HoR) Bhisma Raj Angdembe, and Deputy Speaker Rabi Kumari Thakur have been invited to attend the meeting.
Following the meeting, the Constitutional Council is expected to recommend a candidate for appointment and forward the name to the President. The post has remained vacant since former Chief Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut retired on April 1 after reaching the constitutional age limit of 65.
Earlier, the Judicial Council forwarded the names of six Supreme Court justices to the Constitutional Council Secretariat for consideration. The recommended candidates are senior-most Justice Sapana Pradhan Malla, Kumar Regmi, Hari Prasad Phuyal, Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma, Dr Nahakul Subedi and Til Prasad Shrestha. Following Raut’s retirement, Justice Malla has been serving as the acting CJ.
The Supreme Court has no history of bypassing seniority in appointing a chief justice. Article 129 of the Constitution states that a person who has served as a Supreme Court justice for at least three years is eligible for appointment as CJ.
However, concerns have surfaced over whether the near two-thirds majority government led by the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) will maintain the tradition of seniority and institutional decorum. Government officials, however, maintain that any of the six recommended justices can legally be appointed Chief Justice.
Under the Constitution, the six-member Constitutional Council is chaired by the prime minister and includes the chief justice, speaker of the HoR, chairperson of the National Assembly, leader of the main opposition party, and deputy speaker.
Under the recently introduced ordinance, the quorum requirement for a Constitutional Council meeting has been reduced to four members. The ordinance further states that a decision endorsed by the chairperson and at least two other members present at the meeting will be considered a valid council decision.
As the post of chief justice is currently vacant, the law minister also participates in the council meeting related to the recommendation process. With Prime Minister Shah, Speaker Aryal and Minister Gautam representing the ruling side in today’s meeting, attention has now shifted to whom the government may ultimately choose as the country’s next CJ.
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