Parliamentary committee meets complainants

Kathmandu, Dec 10: The  Parliamentary Hearing Committee today met with those challenging the Judicial Council's recommendations for appointments of Supreme Court (SC) judges.     

The committee discussed with Pushpa Prasad Guragain, Chiranjibi Bhakta Poudel, Prem Prasad Shah, Yubraj Chapagain and Prabeen Khanal who lodged complainants against those proposed as future SC judges. During the meeting, they defended their concerns over the names recommended as the future SC justice.     

Earlier, the Council proposed four judges of High Court and two senior advocates as further SC judges and sent their names to the Committee to conduct a parliamentary hearing. They are Sharanga Subedi of High Court, Abdul Ajij Musalman of Hetauda Bench of High Court, Patan; Mahesh Sharma and Tek Prasad Dhungana of High Court, Patan. Two senior advocates are Sunil Kumar Pokharel and Bal Krishna Dhakal.     

Six complaints were filed against Subedi, three against Dhungana and one against Musalman.     

 As the Council said, academic qualifications, professional experience and knowledge, the term of services, competency, professional reputation, and performance were the criteria for the selections for the appointments.     

During the meeting, Guragain accused the dominance of those who have connections in judiciary, while Paudel said verdicts against the law have led to citizen's decreasing trust in the judiciary. (RSS)