Kathmandu, Oct. 7: The Judicial Council (JC) has recommended four judges for appointment to the Supreme Court, bypassing several chief judges and senior high court judges and triggering dissent within the council.
The nominees are High Court Pokhara Chief Judge Dr. Ratna Bahadur Bagchand and High Court judges Chandra Prasad Saru, Janak Pandey and Gokarna Dangi.
The recommendations have raised questions over seniority. Saru ranks fifth, Pandey 13th and Dangi 16th among high court judges. Several judges ranked above them were excluded, including High Court chief judges Rajan Prasad Bhattarai, Lal Bahadur Kunwar, Hari Prasad Bhandari and Rajeshwor Tiwari.
Other senior judges, including top-ranked Dinesh Prasad Yadav, Krishna Lal Bhattarai, Yamuna Bhattarai and Tek Narayan Kunwar, were also left out.
No lawyer was recommended this time, departing from the past practice of selecting candidates from both the judiciary and legal profession.
The decision exposed divisions within the JC. The senior-most Supreme Court Justice Sapana Pradhan Malla and JC member Mahesh Nepal filed notes of dissent.
Malla questioned the transparency and criteria used for selecting judges. According to JC sources, she argued that bypassing seniority without clear justification and relying on informal agreements was inconsistent with the Constitution, Judicial Council Act and established judicial principles.
She also objected to the exclusion of lawyers and the lack of representation of women and Madhesis. Malla said she could neither participate in nor endorse the process.
Nepal registered his dissent over the recommendations of Pandey and Dangi.
Chief Justice Dr. Manoj Kumar Sharma, Law Minister Sobita Gautam and JC member Damodar Sharma supported the recommendations.
The Nepal Bar Association also criticised the decision. NBA President Prof. Dr. Vijay Prasad Mishra said the council had ignored inclusion by excluding lawyers, women and Madhesis.
Mishra said the JC must take responsibility for the appointments, questioning the government’s commitment to judicial reform.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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