CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has urged recommending appointments to all vacant constitutional positions.
Dahal made the proposal to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba during a discussion held at Baluwatar between the three top leaders on Thursday.
According to Dahal’s secretariat, the discussion was held as part of preparations for the Constitutional Council meeting scheduled for Friday.
Dahal said during the meeting that the Council should recommend appointments to all vacant constitutional positions on Friday itself if possible, or do it soon after reaching another agreement.
PM Oli had called a meeting of the Council for Wednesday. A letter sent to the Council’s members mentioned recommendation of chief justice as the meeting’s only agenda.
The meeting was later rescheduled for Friday.
Chief Justice Bishowambhar Prasad Shrestha is set to retire on October 4.
The new chief justice recommendee will also have to go through parliamentary hearing as per the Constitution.
The Judicial Council has already sent a list of eight potential candidates for chief justice to the Constitutional Council.
The recommended justices are Prakash Man Singh Raut, Sapana Pradhan Malla, Prakash Kumar Dhungana, Kumar Regmi, Hari Prasad Phuyal, Manoj Kumar Sharma, Kumar Chudal, and Nahakul Subedi.
The Constitutional Council is likely to recommend Raut for the post as he is the most senior among the eight.
The Constitutional Council also needs to make recommendations for appointments to three other constitutional bodies. The Election Commission, the National Natural Resources and Fiscal Commission, and the National Inclusion Commission each have a position lying vacant.
