Chief Justice (CJ) Cholendra Shumsher Rana has stated that he will not resign.
Talking with Supreme Court (SC) justices who met him on Tuesday to discuss about controversies including him seeking a share in the federal Cabinet, CJ Rana stressed that he has been appointed in accordance to a constitutional process and will go through one.
"I won't resign merely when someone from the streets asks for my resignation. That will not do the judiciary of Nepal any good," a source quoted CJ Rana as telling the justices.
Rana stressed that if he has to resign due to controversy about his verdicts, that should also apply for other justices. "If I have to resign due to controversy over my verdicts, there have been controversies about verdicts of other justices also. Let's all resign en masse," the source quoted CJ Rana as proposing.
The 14 justices who have concluded that the leadership of judiciary has failed completely and CJ Rana should pave the way to save the judiciary from additional crisis met CJ amidst demands for him to resign or face impeachment.
The justices have held several rounds of discussions to form a position on CJ Rana following controversies including picking bench in different cases including those about HoR dissolution, accusations about CJ Rana getting a share of spoils in appointments at constitutional bodies, involvement of CJ Rana in the case about the Constitutional Council, delay in the hearing of case filed making CJ Rana a defendant, and allegations about him seeking share in the Cabinet.
Seven justices met on Friday to discuss the latest controversy while 14 justices met on Sunday to form their position on CJ Rana. They had to postpone the discussion for Monday after being informed that CJ Rana has called full court on Monday. They then decided to boycott the full court on Monday and instead hold further discussion.
There were no hearings in the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday as the justices continued discussion to form a position on CJ Rana. A total of 216 cases were assigned to seven different benches but none of the cases got a hearing on Monday.
Some of the justices during the meeting on Monday opined that CJ Rana should provide a way out as he cannot be trusted while some stated that they should first meet CJ Rana and talk with him about the issue.
They eventually decided to meet CJ Rana on Tuesday and make their position clear after listening to him.
