Lawyer says no for Hearing of RCCC

Kathmandu Nov 14-A few lawyers on Sunday did not attend the Supreme Court hearing on the controversial Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC) case.

"We have informed the Supreme Court that we are not ready to take part in the hearing" NBA member Tikaram Bhattarai said. According to him, he and other advocates Madhav Banskota, Bhimarjun Acharya, Harikrishna Karki and Hari Uprety decided not to attend the hearing, which was scheduled for today almost a month ago. "Though we did not take part in the hearing, it was not a boycott," he said.

Immediately after the lawyers' decision not to attend the hearing, Attorney General (AG) Professor Pawan Kumar Ojha urged the bench to provide him an opportunity to put forth his argument before the bench on November 18. He told the bench that he was going to take part in a conference of attorney generals in Qatar, Dubai, and would return on November 17.

In today's hearing government lawyers claimed that it was not necessary for the judges to be law graduates to sit in the RCCC bench to decide corruption cases. "There are several lawyers to assist judges to decide cases," said a former AG Prem Bahadur Bista. "It is not necessary for a judge to have a law background to decide cases since there are several lawyers to help them."

The government-hired senior advocate, Kunja Bihari Prasad Singh, also said the Supreme Court couldn't examine the constitutionality of the RCCC set up by the King. "How can the Supreme Court examine the RCCC which was formed as per Article 115(7) of the Constitution and was continued according to Article 127 even after the termination of the state of Emergency," he claimed.

He also said that the show cause notice issued by a single bench of Justice Min Bahadur Rayamajhi on the case was a mistake and that should be corrected before the final hearing.

They added the question should not be raised about the Commission formed using the royal prerogative.
A five member special bench of the Supreme comprising justices Justices Kedar Prashad Giri, Min Bahadur Rayamajhi, Ram Nagin Singh, Anup Raj Sharma and Ram Prashad Shrestha is examining the case.

The King formed the RCCC under Article 127 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990 to look after the cases relating to corruption and irregularities after the royal takeover of February 1.