Nepali Congress President Gagan Thapa has accused the ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) of attempting to hand-pick the chief justice "out of their pocket."
Thapa raised questions about the appointment process after Prime Minister Balen Shah called a Constitutional Council meeting for Thursday to recommend a candidate for chief justice.
“The RSP has already decided whom to make chief justice. It is preparing to bring a proposal and get it passed, not by presenting candidates, debating, and reaching a decision through the council,” Thapa told reporters at Singha Durbar. “The plan is to appoint a chief justice pulled out of their pocket by saying a matter passed by three members, including the prime minister, speaker, and law minister, constitutes a majority.”
He also accused the government of introducing the recent ordinance to exert control over the Constitutional Council. Thapa noted that the current arrangement in the ordinance is similar to the one proposed by former prime minister KP Sharma Oli (though he did not mention Oli by name). He remarked that while they had successfully opposed the move at the time, they were unable to stop it this time.
"Machinations regarding the summoning and prorogation of Parliament were carried out just to maintain control over the Constitutional Council. The previous prime minister did exactly this," Thapa said. "We stopped it then, but we couldn't stop it now. It was passed as ordinance."
He further claimed that just as the previous prime minister had resorted to maneuvering for appointments, the current prime minister was also engaging in "foul play" to appoint his own people.
"This is objectionable. We strongly disagree with this," Thapa said. "Our colleagues will raise this issue in Parliament."
