SC stays Parliament Secretariat's letter

By Liladhar Upadhyaya, Kathmandu, Dec. 9: The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday issued a stay order against the letter issued by the general secretary of the Federal Parliament, which had opened the way for suspended Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JBR to resume his office. 

Earlier on Wednesday, general secretary of the Parliament Dr Bharat Raj Gautam had written a letter to the concerned authorities including the SC on the ground that the impeachment motion was no more active after the term of the previous House of Representatives (HoR) expired, and the new House is in the process of formation following November 20 elections. 

Questioning the legality and jurisdiction of the letter, the Supreme Court order stated that the impeachment motion registered against the suspended CJ was not inactive because the impeachment recommendation parliamentary committee had asked to submit the report to the next House.  General secretary Gautam has no constitutional and legal rights to make the impeachment motion of the House inactive, the SC stated.  

With the stay order issued by the Supreme Court against the letter of the Parliamentary Secretariat, the effort of suspending CJ Cholendra Shumsher JBR to resume office before getting retirement has failed. He was facing impeachment in the erstwhile HoR on a charge of corruption and misconduct and it is yet to be finalised.   

issued the interim order in response to a writ petition filed by senior advocate and president of the Supreme Court Bar Association Purnaman Shakya and others. 

Members of the bench included Justices Bishwombhar Shrestha, Ishwor Prasad Khatiwada, Ananda Mohan Bhattarai and Anil Kumar Sinha.  

Senior advocates Shakya, Krishna Prasad Bhandari, Badri Bahadur Karki, Shambhu Thapa, Gopal Krishna Ghimire and Tika Ram Bhattarai pleaded on behalf of the petitioners.  

General secretary Gautam issued the letter to the concerned authorities -- the Supreme Court, the Office of the President, the Office of the Council of the Ministers, the Constitutional Council, the Judicial Council and the suspended CJ.

CJ Rana was barred from discharging duties following a letter issued by the Parliamentary Secretariat on February 13 this year as the required number of parliamentarians of the HoR had filed the impeachment motion against him.

 The SC administration, legal fraternity and other stakeholders were furious over the controversial act of the Parliament Secretariat. They issued statements condemning the letter. Moreover, the lawyers staged a protest in front of the SC on Wednesday.