Constitutional Council meeting today to recommend appointment of Chief Justice

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Vishwambhar Prasad Shrestha is retiring from October 19 due to the age limit of 65 years. According to Article 284 (3) of the Constitution, there is a provision that the Council should recommend the appointment of a new Chief Justice one month before he retires. According to the constitutional provision, the council meeting could not be held as the recommendation should have been made on August 19.

Earlier, the judicial council meeting has sent the names of 8 judges, including the senior-most judge Prakashmansingh Raut, to the constitutional council for the recommendation of the appointment of the chief justice. The judicial council sent the names of Raut, Nahkul Subedi, Sapna Pradhan Malla, Prakash Kumar Dhungana, Kumar Regmi, Hariprasad Phuyal, Manoj Sharma, Kumar Chudal to the council according to their ranking. The tradition of appointing the most senior judge as the Chief Justice has been maintained till now. In this way, if Raut, the most senior judge, becomes the Chief Justice, his tenure will last till 082 Chait 17.

Before the council meeting, the Prime Minister held a discussion with the Chairman of the ruling party Congress, Sher Bahadur Deuba and the leader of the main opposition party, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, in Baluwatar on Thursday. Dahal asked the Prime Minister to seek agreement on the 'package' for all the vacant positions of the constitutional bodies along with the Chief Justice.

Dahal's private secretariat has informed that Dahal has proposed to fill all the vacant positions in the constitutional body as far as possible in the meeting on Friday. "If possible, let's recommend all the vacant positions on Friday, otherwise let's make another agreement and recommend all the vacant positions soon," said a member of his secretariat, quoting Dahal's statement.

There are four vacancies in the Constitutional Commission. Krishnaman Pradhan, who was recommended as the Commissioner of the Election Commission, was later rejected by the parliamentary hearing committee. Shrestha's name was rejected by the committee after he was accused of sexually abusing a woman. Since then, no other recommendation has been made in his place. Similarly, the post of chairman has been vacant in the inclusion commission for a long time. Senior member Bishnumaya Ojha has been working as acting chairman. One/one member is also vacant in National Finance, Women and Muslim Commission.