Nepal SC reinstates CJ Karki, stays impeachment motion

Nepal's Supreme Court on Friday reinstated the country's first woman chief justice Sushila Karki and directed Parliament to halt her impeachment as the tussle between the legislature and the judiciary took a dramatic turn.

Just hours after the Supreme Court's interim order, Chief Justice Karki returned to office this evening.

Supreme Court assistant spokesperson Bishwo Raj Paudel said, "She will start legal work from Sunday."

A single member bench of Justice Cholendra Shamsher Rana issued the order stating that the impeachment move was against the spirit of Nepal's Constitution.

His order came in response to a writ petition against the motion to impeach Karki. Advocates Kanchan Krishna Neupane and Sunil Ranjan Singha had moved the apex court a day after the impeachment motion was registered at the parliament secretariat on April 30.

The court decision has put the government in an awkward position, analysts said. The impeachment motion against Karki was registered in Parliament by two major ruling parties that accused her of "interfering" with the executive and issuing "prejudiced" verdicts.

A total of 249 lawmakers from the ruling Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist Centre) signed the motion.

Karki, 64, who has done her Masters in Political Science from Banaras Hindu University, was automatically suspended from the post after the registration of the motion. As a fallout of the impeachment motion, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Bimalendra Nidhi had resigned over his dissatisfaction with the move.

Also, Nepal's Rastriya Prajatantra Party had quit the Prachanda-led government, a day after withdrawing its support to it over the impeachment motion against Karki.

Karki had assumed office as Nepal's first woman Chief Justice on August 1 last year.