Indepandent judicary :Chief Justice must resign Special Editoral on Law Day Chief Justice Sharma, addressing a conference of the justices of Asia and the Pacific region held on March 20-24 in Australia, had defended the February 1 royal move and disparaged the political parties. He had also urged the international community not to criticize the royal move and support Nepal.Chief Justice Hari Prasad Sharma in his address ,said His Majesty the King took the 1 February initiative to teach political parties a lesson.Chief Justice Sharma also told a programme His Majesty enforced direct rule because the rule of political parties went beyond the rule of law.He said: ”When Maoists were conducting their activities in villages and remote places, political parties restricted their activities only to grabbing power and the prime minister’s chair. No effort was made to bring Maoists into the political mainstream.”Concentrating on political rather that judicial issues he said political parties were irresponsible and unrepresentative by dissolving parliament and local bodies and confined themselves only to making “ stable government” rpt “stable government”.The international community may be surprised by reports of the international media on recent developments in Nepal and added,” But the situation in Nepal is different. The efforts now are to eliminate terrorism, provide peace and security to the helpless, cleanse bad government and eliminate corruption.”Chief Justice Sharma said the King took over power and now people have some sense of peace. Many people in Nepal are watching what can be done to protect the people and the constitution at a time when the country was ablaze and unseen forces were, against the wishes of the state, playing games, he said.Former Supreme Court Justice Laxman Prasad Aryal warned of a big crisis ahead for the judiciary as it is trying to function as per the directives of the executive. "All the constitutional infrastructures have now been destroyed," he asserted."The speech is no less than that of a political leader. As the head of the judiciary, he should not have given such a speech," a senior Supreme Court justice said, "He had vowed to abide by the constitution while taking the oath of office, which means he has vowed to be impartial. So, by delivering the speech, he has breached the constitution." The 19-point code of conduct of judges endorsed by the Supreme Court, the apex policy-making body of the judiciary, considers it unethical for justices to speak publicly on political issues. An organaistion of Legal experts, Nepal Bar association (NBA) have demanded the resignations of Chief Justice Hari Prasad Sharma for that , respective stances at separate international fora on human rights, emergency and politics.in the meeting of NBA ,the exucative Member of NBA has demanded of chief Justice resignations. "The political speech is extremely serious and objectionable. No Chief Justice should support emergency. He must step down," president of NBA Shambu Thapa said addressing a program organized by Nepal Bar Association. Thapa also expressed serious concern about the independence of the judiciary. "If CJ Sharma and other justices cannot defend the independence of the judiciary, they must resign." he told . Most of the Legal experts have expressed serious concerns over declning supremacy of the constitution and the independence of the judiciary, and called on all to unite to preserve the 3rd estate of the country. "Independence of the judiciary, rule of law and the very preamble of the constitution have been mocked in recent days," all of them said . CJ Sharma, addressing an international conference of chief justices from Asia and the Pacific, had given a political speech, supporting the king's February 1 move as well as disparaging political parties. The speech has been criticized by all sections of society. So that to make the independence of the judiciaryand free politices in courts , "CJ should resign for his remarks,"

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