The Supreme Court Bar Association has met Chief Justice (CJ) Cholendra Shumsher Rana after reports about him seeking share of spoils in the Cabinet have been published and asked about the facts.
Chairman of the SC unit of the Nepal Bar Association Purna Man Shakya said office-bearers of the SC Bar Association met CJ Rana on Monday and asked him about the reports. "We had sought an emergency meeting after reports about the CJ seeking share in the Cabinet were published. He called us at 11:45 in the morning. We met him and told him that he should speak what the truth is," Shakya told Setopati.
CJ claimed that the media have published wrong news and he has not sought share in the Cabinet. "I will not violate the Constitution and would protect it instead. It is the prime minister's special right to form the Cabinet. The judiciary does not and should not seek a share in that," Shakya quoted CJ Rana as saying.
CJ Rana answered that he will not refute the news reports. "The media publish falsehoods. How many can be rebutted? It is not possible to rebut all of them," Shakya quoted CJ Rana as adding.
Shakya added that CJ Rana agreed after being told that this news is a serious issue and he must reveal what the truth is, and assured that he will issue a statement in rebuttal Monday itself.
Shakya stressed that the reports if true will not just harm the judiciary but the whole country. "It is wrong if the reports that the CJ has sought share in the Cabinet are true. If political parties are trying to please the judiciary by including a particular person while forming the Cabinet, that is against the spirit of Constitution and democracy. This will not benefit the whole country. It is the primary duty of the government, ruling parties and leaders to protect independence and impartiality of the judiciary. We strongly condemn any step taken to influence the judiciary and that will not be acceptable to us."
He opined that the CJ should not put such demand or proposal, and the executive head also should not agree if the CJ were to do so.
Setopati on Sunday reported that CJ Rana has demanded two ministries or at least one during Cabinet expansion. Three leaders of separate parties in the ruling coalition corroborated that Rana has demanded his confidant Deepak Timalsina be made minister as per the provision in the Constitution that allows any person who is not federal lawmaker to become minister for six months.
CJ Rana has also been accused of appointing his confidants in constitutional bodies in connivance with the then prime minister KP Sharma Oli last year after Oli brought an ordinance related to the Constitutional Council to make appointments at the vacant positions in constitutional bodies.
