The Judicial Council has initiated internal investigation against three High Court justices recommended for action and investigation by the Supreme Court (SC) for overstepping the remit while hearing a case about Gorkha Brewery.
A bench of Chief Justice (CJ) Cholendra Shumsher Rana had recommended investigation and action against Justices of Pokhara High Court Jeevan Hari Adhikari, Nara Bahadur Shahi and Ram Chandra Yadav. The council had also received another complaint against the trio related to Gorkha Brewery.
"The council first conducts internal investigation after complaint against justices. Investigations are on even in this issue," Spokesperson at the council Man Bahadur Karki told Setopati.
Justice Yadav conducting first hearing on the petition filed by Gorkha Brewery against Inland Revenue Office, Bharatpur for determining excise duty of Rs 879 million had ordered the office to not immediately implement the decision of tax determination.
The other two justices had ordered continuity of the interim order after hearing arguments of both the sides.
Chief Tax Officer at the Bharatpur Office Suba Prasad Rijal had moved the SC against the Pokhara High Court claiming that Patan High Court should be hearing the case about the office and not Pokhara High Court.
The bench of CJ Rana revoked the Pokhara High Court's order, ruled that the Pokhara High Court overstepped its jurisdiction while registering the petition of Gorkha Brewery and recommended investigation and action against the three justices.
Gorkha Brewery on June 2 had moved the Pokhara Court against the Inland Revenue Office, Bharatpur, that had determined the excise duty on May 21, without using the option of requesting review of the tax amount within 15 days. The company could then have requested Director General of Inland Revenue Department to review the tax determined by Bharatpur Office if it was again not satisfied with the tax determined.
But Gorkha Brewery did not use those options and directly moved the Pokhara High Court against the tax determination.
