With the order of the Constitutional Court on Wednesday to submit the writ against the amendment of the Judicial Council Regulations for a full hearing, this dispute is now going to end.
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The dispute over the 'Judicial Council Rules' which has been causing a conflict between Nepal Bar Association, the umbrella organization of legal professionals and the judicial leadership, has now reached the decision stage. With the order of the Constitutional Court on Wednesday to submit the writ against the amendment of the Judicial Council Regulations for a full hearing, this dispute is now going to end.
A bench of Chief Justice Prakashman Singh Raut, Justices Sapna Pradhan Malla, Kumar Regmi, Hariprasad Phuyal and Manoj Kumar Sharma ordered that the writ be submitted for full hearing. It is hoped that with the decision of the Constitutional Court in this dispute, the dignity of the judges and the conflict between the Bar and the Wench will be resolved.
Earlier, the constitutional bench issued a short-term order and stopped the implementation of the revised system. In the debate on whether to grant an interim order or not, the constitutional bench proposed to hold a final hearing at once.
Kedar Koirala, Secretary General of Nepal Bar, suggested that it is better for the constitutional bench to decide on the conflict between the Bar and the Wench, but when the verdict is delivered in this way, everyone should be judged and the agenda raised by the Bar should be addressed that the Constitution itself has been amended.
What was the regulation dispute?
The Justice Council amended the Justice Council Regulation 2074 in October 2080. The bar has been displeased with the provision saying that the amendment raised the rank of judges from employees and the rank of judges appointed from legal professionals fell behind. The bar argues that the revised provision of the
regulation has given priority to the employees, created discrimination among the judges and the provision is against the constitution. But the employees of the Judiciary said that since the Supreme Court had already decided on the issue, the task force retreated after warning them not to make it a subject of talks and discussions outside the courtroom.
The bar has been protesting saying that in the Judicial Council Regulations, the court staff and judges will be in the upper ranking and the people appointed by legal professionals will be in the lower ranking. The bar has been demanding the repeal of the first amendment made to the
regulation as a violation of the constitution. The bar has claimed that the amendment of the regulation is against Article 141 (3) of the Constitution of Nepal.
The General Assembly held in Surkhet, the meeting of the National Executive Council held in Chitwan and the National Conference of the Nepal Bar held in Kathmandu on May 4th, 5th and 6th also demanded the repeal of the regulation.
The bar has been demanding to appoint High Court and Supreme Court judges with respectable presence of lawyers only after revoking the revised rules.
Article 141 (3) of the Constitution, the Bar alleged that the law has been amended to reduce the service, conditions and dignity of any judge. On 17 August 2081, the then Chief Justice Vishwambhar Prasad Shrestha called for a discussion after the bar staged a protest against the amendment to the Judicial Council Rules. After the discussion between the bar and the bench, a joint task force was formed under the leadership of senior judge Prakashmansingh Raut.
Senior Judge Raut, the then member of the Justice Council Ram Prasad Bhandari, Nepal Bar President Gopalkrishna Ghimire, General Secretary Anjita Khanal and other working groups submitted separate reports. This report was submitted after there was a difference of opinion between the two parties. Even the current Chief Justice has been giving promises to the lawyers to get rid of the case from the constitutional bench after not being able to resolve this dispute.
Due to the conflict between the bar and the bench, a few days ago, the Nepal Bar Council did not have a guest on its foundation day. In October 2080, the Nepal Bar Association held protest programs at various stages demanding the repeal of the revised regulations. In this dispute, Gopalkrishna Ghimire, the former bar president, is facing a contempt of court case due to his loud remarks.
