The Constitutional Council meeting held on Tuesday ended without recommending a new chief justice.
According to Deputy Speaker Indira Rana Magar, the next meeting of the Constitutional Council will take place on Thursday.
The agenda of the meeting held at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers at Singha Durbar on Tuesday afternoon was to recommend a new chief justice. But no decision was taken as Council members including the leader of the opposition party also demanded appointing heads of parliamentary committees and recommending a new auditor general together, Rana Magar said.
The post of auditor general is vacant as a new auditor general has not been recommended since Tanka Mani Sharma’s term ended on May 21. According to the Constitution, the Constitutional Council is required to recommend a new auditor general one month before the post falls vacant.
“The Constitutional Council shall make a recommendation for appointment under this Constitution before one month of the vacation of the office of the chief justice or a chief or official of a constitutional body,” Article 284 (3) of the Constitution states.
With Chief Justice Hari Krishna Karki set to retire on August 5, the Constitutional Council was supposed to recommend a new chief justice before July 5. But Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had not called a Constitutional Council meeting until Tuesday.
Bishowambhar Prasad Shrestha is likely to succeed Karki as he is the most senior justice at the Supreme Court.
Rana Magar said that the Council’s meeting on Thursday will make recommendations for chief justice and other posts.
