House panel to grill Giri tomorrow

The Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee (PHSC) decided that ‘clarification’ from Officiating Chief Justice Kedar Prasad Giri would be recorded on Tuesday to decide whether or not to accept him for the post of Chief Justice.The PHSC took the decision following a “serious discussion” at a meeting today after a report was submitted by the sub-committee headed by MP Dilendra Prasad Badu. The sub-committee, which was formed to study on the complaints against Giri, has recommended that some of the complaints, among a total of 16 complaints, are “serious in nature.”Though Giri had informed that he was ready to attend before the PHSC at any time today, the MPs decided to call him on Tuesday at 11 am because they would take some hours to discuss the issue.During today’s discussions, MPs were seriously divided on the charges against Giri with MPs of UML, Maoists and Jana Morcha claiming that Giri cannot hold the CJ’s post and MPs of the Nepali Congress (NC) and the NC (D) dismissing their claim. MPs of both Congresses said the complaints against Giri were baseless and it would be inappropriate to be indecisive on the issue.Stating that Giri has no ‘good track’ record nor enough capacity to hold the post, leftist MPs, including Mahendra Bahadur Pandey, Janardan Sharma, Khimlal Devkota, Lilamani Pokhrel and Nava Raj Subedi, today said Giri cannot hold the post.“The decision of the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) on Mahalaxmi Sugar Mills and his decision in the FM radio case during the royal regime were regrettable; thus, we should not accept the Constitutional Council’s recommendation to appoint him as Chief Justice,” said Nava Raj Subedi. Jana Morcha Nepal’s MP Pokhrel said that the PHSC cannot bypass the PAC’s recommendation to impeach him.Both congress’s MPs Chakra Prasad Banstola, Dr Minendra Rijal and Dr Ram Baran Yadav said it would not be good to stop Giri from being appointed CJ as he has long experience in the judiciary.Maoist MP Janardan Sharma said the PHSC is not compelled to accept every decision passed by the Constitutional Council because that would be against the spirit of Jana Andolan-II.

Charges against Giri:• Giri did not protect the rights of FM radios to air news during the royal regime• Giri was loyal to the royal regime• The PAC had recommended Giri’s impeachment in the Mahalaxmi Sugar Mills case• Giri had transferred public land in individuals’ names• He was involved in irregularities while deciding on cases• He favoured civic election held by the royal regime• He had worked against Nepal’s diplomatic relations with the US as he had issued a stay order against the US embassy while he was Chief judge of Patan Appellate Court