KATHMANDU, Oct 24: Parliament has decided to begin deliberations on the impeachment motion filed against the chief of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Lokman Singh Karki, on Tuesday.
After brief deliberations, the House will forward the motion to the Impeachment Recommendations Committee for further investigations. Speaker Onsari Gharti announced in the House meeting on Sunday that deliberations on the impeachment motion filed by 157 lawmakers last week will begin from 3 pm Tuesday.
The decision was taken as per the rule of the parliament regulations that stated that an impeachment motion must be discussed in a House meeting within a week after it is registered. The motion against Karki was registered at the parliament secretariat on Wednesday.
“The House will not make any delay in taking a decision on the impeachment motion. We are strictly against taking any more time more than required as per the parliamentary regulations,” Speaker Gharti told reporters after the House meeting on Sunday. She also expressed her confidence in getting support from all the political parties in expediting the process.
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According to rule 170 of the parliamentary regulations, the Impeachment Recommendations Committee should submit its report to the House within 30 days after initiating investigation into an impeachment motion. The 11-member parliamentary committee will receive the impeachment motion for investigations after the House meeting concludes deliberations on the proposal.
“We will present the report well within 30 days,” Rewati Raman Bhandari, a member of the committee, told Republica.
The committee will first give Karki seven days to furnish his clarifications on the allegations. The committee will then move forward even if Karki does not furnish his clarification within the given seven days. As per the rule, the committee gets 30 days to submit its report to the House.
The report of the committee will be tabled in the House for deliberations and decision. But rule 172 of the regulations allows any lawmaker to submit amendment proposals, if any, on the report demanding revisions to it. However, such proposals can be sent to the committee for discussions only if they are endorsed by the House. If any amendment proposal is endorsed by the House, it will be sent to the recommendation committee for making changes within seven days to the report.
The House will then put the report of the recommendation committee to a vote in the House. If the House endorses the report of the committee with two-thirds majority of parliament Karki will be removed from his post permanently. Any individual removed from his post through impeachment will be ineligible for any appointments in the public posts for life.
Lawmakers registering the impeachment motion have accused Karki of being involved in various inappropriate activities, breaching constitutional jurisdiction of the anti-graft body, working to serve his vested interest and taking revenge against those who have questioned his work. Likewise, the lawmakers have accused him of hindering the implementation of court orders.
Article 101 of the constitution allows one-fourth lawmakers to register impeachment proposal against any office bearers of the constitutional bodies, chief justices or justices if any individual in such posts are found to be having wrong behavior or breaches the constitutional jurisdiction.
