Judicial Council gives clean chit to 85 judges

-The Judicial Council headed by Chief Justice Kedar Prasad Giri last week gave clean chit to 85 district and appellate court judges against whom there were complaints of misusing of authority and indulging in irregularities while deciding cases. Nothing unexceptionable, this, on the face of it.Making public its decision today, JC member Motikaji Sthapit, the representative of the PM at the JC, said the JC is not compelled to make public on what basis it gave clean chit to those judges. Neither was he ready to make public the names of the judges who were found ‘clean’.“The names of the judges must be made public. Otherwise, it will be a violation of the Right to Information Act 2007,” President of Supreme Court Bar Association, Prakash Raut, told this daily.“We have decided to drop the cases as there were no grounds to initiate further process against the judges,” Sthapit added.Most of the complaints were pending in the JC for the past seven years.However, the Judicial Council has decided to probe charges against 22 appellate and district court judges. Sthapit dismissed demands from journalists to make public the names of the judges under the Right to Information Act, 2007.

JC member Motikaji Sthapit said the JC is thinking whether or not to make permanent three ad hoc SC judges. “The JC will decide on the issue soon.” Three ad hoc judges — Pawan Kumar Ojha, Rajendra Prasad Koirala and Tahir Ali Ansari — will complete their tenure by mid-December. Ojha was appointed a SC judge by king Gyanendra. He was the A-G and was promoted after defending the RCCC that had arrested a number of democratic leaders, including former PM Sher Bahadur Deuba. It was disbanded after the SC ruled it was unconstitutional. Defending the king’s move, Ojha had claimed that a Hindu King would always be above the constitution.

Ananta Raj Luitel @ himalyatimes