Kathmandu, Aug 15: The Nepal Bar Association has protested the move to transfer writ petitions filed against a commission of inquiry formed by the government to the Constitutional Bench through an administrative note and order.
The association said such a practice could create the risk of a controlled judiciary. The Supreme Court administration has prepared a note and submitted it to Chief Justice Dr Manoj Sharma, proposing that cases related to the Property Investigation Commission be sent to the Constitutional Bench.
Bar General Secretary and senior advocate Kedar Koirala said in a press statement issued Friday that assigning pending cases through an administrative order creates the risk of a controlled judiciary.
The statement said the established tradition and practice is for an open bench to decide, through arguments and deliberations on the hearing date, whether a case should be sent to a particular bench.
The Bar Association has drawn Chief Justice Sharma’s attention to the need to correct the practice. “The judiciary is the guardian of constitutionalism. It cannot be controlled or directed. The selective formation of the Constitutional Bench and the assignment of pending cases through administrative orders have created concerns about the risk of a controlled judiciary,” the statement said.
The association urged the chief justice to immediately correct such practices.
A writ petition challenging the legality of the Property Investigation Commission had led the Supreme Court to issue an interim order on July 10, directing an immediate halt to the investigation.
A bench comprising Justices Tek Prasad Dhungana and Shrikant Poudel had ordered a halt to the property investigation and directed that the writ petition be placed before a full bench comprising three judges.
Several writ petitions challenging the commission’s jurisdiction were subsequently under consideration before the full bench.
The Supreme Court administration later stated in its note that the cases involved serious questions of constitutional interpretation and submitted them to the chief justice with a recommendation to transfer them to the Constitutional Bench.
The administrative note was submitted to the chief justice on August 2.
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