KATHMANDU, Jan 25: The government attorneys and trade unions at the offices under the Office of the Attorney General (OAG), who had launched protests against the Judicial Council's (JC) recommendations for the appointment of judges at High Courts, have decided to withdraw their protests from Wednesday.
After the JC agreed to consider government attorneys while making recommendations for the appointment of judges in the future and also agreed to address their other demands, the agitating government attorney and trade unions have decided to withdraw their protests and return to work from Wednesday a, informed Attorney General Raman Kumar Shrestha. He had openly and publicly supported the protests of the government attorneys.
“Representatives of the trade unions and I jointly held talks with Minister for Law and Justice Ajaya Shankar Nayak on Tuesday. After the minister assured that the JC will consider the government attorneys while making recommendations for judges in the future and that it will take initiatives to address their other demands immediately, the government attorneys have agreed to call off their protests and resume the work,” Attorney General Shrestha said.
He said that the government attorneys decided to withdraw their protests after he assured to move forward a bill on the perks and facilities to be provided to them.
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The JC will issue a statement on Wednesday stating that it is serious about addressing the demands of the government attorneys and following this the protests will be withdrawn, said Shrestha.
Protesting against the recent appointment of judges at the High Courts, the government attorneys had decided to boycott court proceedings including hearings across the country from Sunday.
They had said that the JC's recent recommendations for the appointment of 80 judges at the seven High Courts and their extended benches were not free and fair as the JC picked just one government attorney for judgeship.
They have been demanding that at least 50 percent of the government attorneys should be included while making recommendations for judges.
Similarly, they had also argued that the recommendations were made in the absence of two of the council members and therefore did not fulfill the constitutional provisions and the provisions of the Judicial Council Act.
Similarly, the agitating government attorneys had also demanded that the Supreme Court immediately set up a constitutional bench, among other demands.
Nirajan Pandey, a member of departmental executive committee of Nepal Civil Service Union (Association), said that the government attroneys will also withdraw their protests as there was tremendous pressure from the public to call off the protests.
