Impeachment motion against Nepal’s chief justice withdrawn
KATHMANDU The CPN (Maoist Centre) and Nepali Congress, the ruling parties of the Himalayan nation, have decided to withdraw an impeachment motion filed against Chief Justice Sushila Karki after coming under pressure both nationally and internationally.
The decision was taken at a Saturday meeting between CPN (Maoist Centre) and Nepali Congress and the main opposition party, the CPN-UML.
“The impeachment motion registered against Chief Justice Karki will be withdrawn by this evening, and latest by Sunday morning,” CPN-UML’s parliamentary party leader Subash Nembang said, quoting Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda”. He also said the process to withdraw the impeachment motion has already been moved ahead.
Prachanda is currently leading a caretaker government till Sher Bahadur Deuba gets parliament approval to form the new administration.
Lawmakers had registered an impeachment motion against Karki at the Parliament Secretariat on April 30 after the Supreme Court annulled the government’s decision to appoint the country’s police chief. Immediately after the motion was registered, Karki — Nepal’s first female chief justice —was suspended, but she was reinstated by another court’s verdict.
The move is expected to end a long-standing row between the executive and the judiciary in the country. It is also expected to allow the House to conduct business — obstructed by an alliance of opposition parties — crucial for holding the second phase of local polls on June 14 as well as approving the Constitutional amendment to address the grievances of Madhes-based parties.
The government has also assured that it will announce the country’s budget on May 29, as provisioned by the Constitution.