After refusing to register petitions challenging the Constitutional Council's recommendation of Manoj Kumar Sharma for chief justice, the Supreme Court administration has put on hold subsequent appeals filed against that rejection.
On May 8, the Supreme Court registrar had ordered the rejection of three petitions filed against the chief justice recommendation. For nearly a week, the court administration has been sitting on the appeals filed against that very order.
Senior Advocate Dinesh Tripathi, along with Advocates Gita Thapa and Prem Raj Silwal, had submitted separate petitions at the Supreme Court administration challenging Sharma's recommendation. After their petitions were rejected, they filed appeals against the decision, saying they were dissatisfied with the registrar's order.
According to Rule 10 of the Supreme Court Rules 2017, applications can filed against orders issued by the chief registrar or registrar.
"Any person dissatisfied with an order passed by the chief registrar or registrar during the course of case proceedings may file an application before a bench within 15 days," the rule states.
According to this rule, the Supreme Court administration must register such an application and present it before a bench. It is then up to the bench to decide whether the decision of the chief registrar or registrar was correct or incorrect.
Sub-rule (2) of Rule 10 further states: "...If the order appears improper upon reviewing the application, the bench concerned shall, if deemed necessary, call for an explanation report within seven days or issue an order to proceed in accordance with the law."
Had the rules been followed accordingly, the Supreme Court administration would have registered the appeals against the rejection and presented them before a bench by Sunday. The bench could then have either upheld or overturned the registrar's rejection.
This time, however, the Supreme Court administration has not only held back the appeals against the rejection but is also sitting on petitions challenging the Ordinance Related to the Constitutional Council.
Senior Advocate Tripathi had filed his application against the rejection order on May 11. He says the Supreme Court has put the application on the backburner instead of registering it.
"I had filed the application against the rejection last Monday. That has not been registered either. The law does not give the administration any choice to not register such an application. This is happening for the first time in Nepal's judicial history," he said.
He described the refusal to register the application as a severe judicial deviation.
"They say they’re looking into it and processing it. They say they have my number and will inform me once it's registered. But they never reach out. Even when I send people to check, they say it hasn't been registered. A serious judicial deviation is visible in this matter. The doors of justice itself have been closed. There is no law that allows holding back an application filed against the refusal to register a petition, yet it has been put on hold," he said. "Previously, such applications were registered immediately and presented to a bench the very next day."
Supreme Court spokesperson and Joint Registrar Arjun Prasad Koirala, however, maintained that the applications are currently "under review."
"The petitions and applications received by the Supreme Court are still being reviewed. Something will happen once the review is complete," he said.
Four other petitions were also submitted to the Supreme Court on May 8. The court administration claims those petitions are also undergoing "review."
According to Supreme Court sources, after the administration put the applications and petitions on hold, Acting Chief Justice Sapana Pradhan Malla instructed the administration to register them immediately. However, the administration has defied her directives.
"Justice Sapana had instructed them to register the files, but the administration is being recalcitrant," the source said.
Sources add that the petitions and applications brought for registration were forwarded to Registrar Man Bahadur Karki and Chief Registrar Bimal Paudel for review. Yet, even after a week, no decision has been made.
Setopati tried to contact both officials for comments, but they did not answer their phones.
Following this obstruction of registration by the judicial administration, the Nepal Bar Association (NBA) issued a press release on the matter. Prem Raj Silwal, one of the petitioners, had filed a formal complaint with the association regarding the issue.
Senior Advocate Kedar Prasad Koirala, NBA spokesperson and general secretary, issued a statement on Friday urging the Supreme Court administration to stop stalling the petitions.
"An application has been registered with this association stating that the administration has rejected and refused to register writ petitions submitted to the Supreme Court over the past few days, and that when the files containing the appeals against the rejection were submitted to the relevant branch to be presented before a bench as per the law, the esteemed Supreme Court’s administration maintained complete silence by neither registering nor officially rejecting them. Therefore, we wish to bring this serious matter to the attention of the Supreme Court administration," the press release states.
The NBA also questioned what would the state of affairs be elsewhere if registration of applications is stalled at the apex court. It urged the court to clear the way for the registration of the appeals to ensure constitutional rights and justice are not obstructed, and to restore public faith in an impartial judicial administration.
