The writ petition filed by senior advocate Shambhu Thapa against appointment of Manoj Kumar Sharma as Supreme Court (SC) justice has been quashed on the first hearing on Tuesday.
The SC had registered the petition on Monday and scheduled the first hearing for Tuesday. A single bench of Justice Tej Bahadur KC on Tuesday revoked the petition saying the claims in the petition are unfounded.
Thapa in his petition, that named the Judicial Council as defendant, had argued that he has not practiced continuously to meet qualifications to become SC justice and also does not have the five-year experience as additional justice of Appellate Court.
One must have continuously practiced law for 15 years or have five-year experience of Appellate Court justice to become eligible for SC justice, according to the Constitution. Sharma had been additional Appellate Court justice for two years after being appointed by his uncle and the then chief justice (CJ) Damodar Sharma.
He and 27 others were relieved of duty after the new Constitution did not retain the position of additional High (Appellate) Court justice.
Competent ones out of those 28 were later appointed as High Court justices but Sharma was not included. Sharma has now been directly made SC justice with blessings of CJ Cholendra Shumsher Rana.
The Judicial Council on April 2 had recommended five justices for the SC and 18 for HC. Chief Justice of Patan High Court Prakash Dhungana and that of Surkhet High Court Sushma Lata Mathema, and senior advocate Kumar Regmi, and advocates Hari Phuyal and Manoj Kumar Sharma were recommended for SC.
Regmi is considered close to the main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) and Phuyal close to the ruling CPN.
Some of those appointments, especially that of Sharma, were widely criticized.
CJ Rana has since conceded that he has vested interest in controversial recommendation of Sharma, the nephew of former CJ Damodar Sharma, to the SC.
The then CJ Sharma had acquitted Rana after the SC made a judicial comment on the verdicts he gave while at the then Appellate Court, and brought him to the SC.
