The Judicial Council has recommended firing of Justice of Pokhara High Court Nara Bahadur Shahi for overstepping the remit while hearing a case about Gorkha Brewery. Chief Justice (CJ) Cholendra Shumsher Rana will fire him after the JC's recommendation.
JC Spokesperson Man Bahadur Karki told Setopati that the JC's meeting on Thursday has taken the decision to fire Shahi as he has been found to have not acted in accordance to the behavior expected of the position.
The SC had recommended the JC for action and investigation against Shahi and other two justices for overstepping the remit while hearing a case about Gorkha Brewery.
A bench of CJ Rana had recommended investigation and action against Justices of Pokhara High Court Jeevan Hari Adhikari, Shahi and Ram Chandra Yadav.
A probe committee was formed under SC Justice Sapana Malla Pradhan after that order. Yadav and Adhikari had resigned after formation of the probe committee.
The JC has decided to fire Shahi after the committee submitted its report.
The council had also received another complaint against the trio related to Gorkha Brewery. 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.
Shahi and Adhikari 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.
