NC decries PHSC decision

Speaking at the start of the House of Representatives’ meeting today, Nepali Congress lawmaker Gyanendra Bahadur Karki charged that the Committee had decided to announce the justice proposed for appointment to the post of Chief Justice disqualified without any ground.
“If Deepak Raj Joshi, who was proposed for the Chief Justice post, is unqualified for the post, then what about the status of the Prime Minister who recommended his name,” lawmaker Karki asked, referring to the Constitutional Council chaired by the Prime Minister that recommends names for appointment to the constitutional bodies and the Chief Justice.
“The decision taken by the committee on the basis of prejudice and partiality, and without any basis and evidence, is wrong. We declare it illegal and we don’t approve of it,” he added.
The NC lawmaker also stated that the PHSC’s latest decision shows that it does not respect the independence of the judiciary, which would pose a challenge to constitution’s implementation itself.
Denying the NC lawmaker’s accusation, ruling party lawmaker Birodh Khatiwada charged that the role of the opposition party was oriented towards anarchic tendency.
“Can the decision made by two-thirds be overruled by one-thirds opinion in a democracy? If they (the opposition party) tried to do that, then we will oppose it,” he said.
Hridayesh Tripathi of the CPN said that nobody has the right and immunity to challenge the decision of the parliamentary hearing special committee.
Whip of the Nepali Congress parliamentary party, Pushpa Bhusal said how can bringing the topic of interference in the judiciary, the protector of democracy, for discussions in the parliament be questioned on the ground of it being against the law.
She wanted to know which law allowed the ruling party to raise objection to the opposition’s idea that the appointment of the Chief Justice should follow the principle of separation of power, demanding that the ruling party should take the issue seriously.
CPN lawmaker Purna Kumari Subedi said there was no rationale in questioning the decision taken by the PHSC which was done by following the laws and procedure.
After this, Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara, in a bid to mollify the heated debate between the lawmakers of the ruling party and the opposition party over the issue of the PHSC decision, said that the serious attention of the House was drawn to the topic raised by the lawmakers.
He said the discussion on the topic would be held after the committee’s report was presented in the parliament.