HoR Regulations provision to be amended

The provision in the proposed House of Representatives (HoR) Regulations that requires the Supreme Court (SC) justices to swear in before a Special Committee of the House will be changed before the endorsement of the Regulations, an SC source said.

A meeting between the full court of SC justices and a team of parliamentarians led by Law Minister Anand Dhungana Friday afternoon agreed to amend the provision.

All justices of the Apex Court including Chief Justice Dilip Kumar Paudel and general secretary of the Parliament Secretariat, Surya Kiran Gurung and secretary of Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party Benup Raj Prasai were present in the meeting.

The proposed HoR Regulations require the SC justices including the Chief Justice to swear in before a Special Committee of the HoR.

"As per the agreement between the two sides, the Chief Justice will swear in the justices," the source said, adding, "In case of the Chief Justice, the meeting proposed that he take the oath of office and secrecy in presence of other justices or through any other provision as taking oath from the king was out of question in the changed situation."

Minister Dhungana and other MPs went to the Apex Court in the afternoon to "discuss and resolve the issue" after an emergency meeting of the full court of SC justices this morning decided not to swear in before House.

The SC justices decided not to take the oath of office and secrecy before the Special Committee of the HoR saying it would be against the principle of independence of the judiciary.

It may be recalled that the judiciary and the legislative were at loggerheads some years back as parliament prepared an anti-corruption bill that proposed to authorize the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to take action against corrupt judges. The move was later aborted.