KATHMANDU, Dec 13: The Constitutional Council (CC) meeting held on Wednesday failed to pick new chief justice, therefore, the meeting has been rescheduled for Thursday.
Due to the absence of the main opposition leader Sher Bahadur Deuba who is also an ex-officio member of the council, the council failed to appoint the successor to Chief Justice Om Prakash Mishra, who is retiring on December 31 on age grounds.
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“Prime Minister KP Oli who is the ex-officio chairman of the CC had rescheduled the meeting for Wednesday by informing all the members on Tuesday night,” a CC member told Republica. This is the fourth time the meeting has been postponed.
Sources claimed that the government wants to appoint a new chief justice at the earliest but the main opposition has been haggling for a better bargain in filling various constitutional body vacancies, hence the delay. Various constitutional bodies including Madheshi, Tharu and Inclusive commissions are without heads and members for quite some time now.
The CC is expected to pick a new chief justice from among two candidates—seniormost justice Deepak Raj Joshee and justice Cholendra SJB Rana—whose names were already forwarded by the Judicial Council (JC) secretariat.
CC sources claimed that Rana's chances are high because Joshee was already rejected as chief justice by the parliamentary hearings committee on August 3.
