Judges Demand Postponement of Conference

Some judges on Friday advised Chief Justice Dilip Kumar Paudel and the Judges' Society led by senior-most Justice of the Supreme Court, Kedar Prasad Giri, to postpone the judges' conference scheduled to be held on October 27 and 28."Since the judges of the Supreme Court, Appellate Courts and District Courts have advised the Chief Justice and the Judges' Society not to hold the conference on the scheduled dates, it may be deferred. However, the society is yet to decide on it," a Supreme Court justice told this daily on Saturday.

The judges have demanded the postponement of the meet at a time when some members of parliament are demanding re-appointment of judges to be incorporated in the proposed interim constitution. "Some of the Supreme Court judges, including Chief Justice Paudel, have opposed the idea of criticising the decision of the House of Representatives", the Justice told reporters.

They have criticised the CJ saying that criticising the House of Representatives is not a good thing to do.The suggestions came yesterday at a tea party organised by the CJ at his official residence at Baluwatar. Paudel has publicly criticised the idea of fresh appointment of judges and impeachment of SC judges as wanted by the Public Accounts Committee.When contacted, SC Justice Balram KC said the re-appointment of judges is a controversial issue at a time when MPs have also been demanding the same.

"The judges should not speak publicly on the issuse. They should only be concerned with whether the interim constitution keeps the judiciary's independece intact or not," KC said."The judges should never express their opinions on whether the Parliament is ready to adopt a provision relating to the re-appointment of judges or not," KC added.

While one group of judges is demanding the re-appointment, the other is seriously opposing the idea. "In my opinion the judges should neither propose re-appointment nor oppose it as it should be decided by the people," KC said.