Govt defies parliament secretariat, foils CJ Rana’s bid to join SC back

Kathmandu:  In what could be seen as the government’s total lack of cooperation, CJ Rana’s plan to join office from Wednesday could not materialize.

Rana had received a letter from the parliament secretariat on the impeachment motion that the House of Representatives was considering was no-more valid following its demise. Rana had planned to join the supreme court at three, but the advocates, including some senior ones, sat on a protest ‘dharna’ at the entry gate to block him.

“I am waiting for security personnel that a CJ is entitled to get to the apex court,” Rana told Deshsanchar.

It took almost two months for the Parliament secretariat to realise that the impeachment procedure against any constitutional authority dies a natural death with the demise or end of the tenure of Parliament that began it.

Chief Justice Rana had been under suspension for the past ten months following registration of an impeachment motion against him, with the ruling Nepali Congress and the Maoist Centre members, taking the lead role in it. The normal five year term of the House came to an end two months ago, but the parliament secretariat maintained silence over the fate of the motion that had become infructuous, along with its demise.

Rana’s attempt to join the office back was stalled after the government put him under undeclared House arrest.  Although the letter from the parliament committee to the effect that the motion was no more ‘alive’  paved the way for his resuming charge, the protest at the apex court and resultant tension came in his way.

The supreme court was indifferent to the parliament committee decision. “It did not try to stop the advocates on dharna,” a senior advocate said.

Rana’s scheduled entry to the apex court at three PM initially got delayed as he was asked by the government to wait for the arrival of additional security, which in fact never arrived.

In the meantime, the supreme court joint register Narayan Panthi has sought clarification from the secretary general of parliament on the letter indicating that supreme court is not ready to easily accept the committee’s decision that the impeachment motion has lost its validity with demise of the house.

Rana is due to retire on age ground on December 14.