It has emerged that senior-most Supreme Court Justice Sapana Pradhan Malla did not attend a full court meeting of the Supreme Court.
Chief Justice Manoj Kumar Sharma had called a full court meeting for Wednesday afternoon.
The Supreme Court typically holds a full court meeting – attended by all justices – on Wednesdays to discuss and decide policy matters or long-term institutional issues.
According to Supreme Court spokesperson and Joint Registrar Arjun Prasad Koirala, Wednesday's meeting focused on the court’s information technology (IT) policy.
“There were discussions on matters related to the IT policy. The deliberations have not yet concluded and will continue at another meeting next Wednesday. The policy will be approved after the discussions are completed,” Koirala said.
This was the second full court meeting held since Manoj Sharma was appointed chief justice. The agenda for the previous meeting was related to the law library. Justice Malla was on leave during that period.
This time, however, Malla did not attend the full court meeting although she was present at the court, said a source at the Supreme Court.
According to the source, she had been informed about the meeting but chose not to participate.
“She had also been invited to the meeting. She sat on the bench, but did not attend the meeting,” the source said.
On Wednesday, Justice Malla had both a single bench and a joint bench assigned to her. According to a source at her secretariat, she was occupied with drafting a judgment in a habeas corpus petition.
“She was busy writing the decision in a detention-related writ petition,” the source said.
In recent months, Malla has reportedly been dissatisfied with the appointment of Chief Justice Sharma.
She was unhappy after the Constitutional Council led by Prime Minister Balen Shah appointed Manoj Kumar Sharma, who was fourth in the seniority ranking, as chief justice.
After Sharma assumed office, Malla took a 20-day leave.
She had secured approval for the leave while serving as acting chief justice before Sharma’s appointment and returned to work on May 20.
