E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, SEP 03 -

A full court meeting of the Supreme Court (SC) on Sunday decided to send back the draft of the proposed Judicial Council (JC) Act to the government with minor changes. The draft was forwarded to the apex court by the Ministry of Law and Justice seeking suggestions.

Such a move comes after the report prepared by a three-member committee of the Supreme Court led by Justice Ram Kumar Prasad Shah some four months ago to study whether the JC Act requires amendment.

The other members in the committee are justices Kalyan Shrestha and Sushila Karki. Of the three members, Justice Karki is of the view that no criteria should be set barring the person charged of contempt of court to be eligible for the post of a justice.  

According to SC Spokesperson Shreekant Poudel, the meeting reached a unanimous opinion that the issue of contempt would only be applicable once the Act comes into effect. “We need to respect the verdict of the division bench and also incorporate different emerging opinions,” Paudel quoted Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi as saying. The apex court is likely to send back the draft to the Ministry of Law and Justice on Monday. Earlier, the JC had forwarded the draft to the ministry.  The meeting also discussed the possibility of extending the term of a judge who is sent on deputation. As of now, the deputation period is three months that, according to justices, could be extended up to six months.

Similarlty, the meeting also dwelt on fixing the retirement age of justices and judges. As of now appellate court judges retire at 63, while the service of an apex court justice comes to an end once s/he reaches 65. The participants in the meeting rooted for fixing the age limit in accordance with the Act related to the services and facilities of judges and justices, not as per the JC Act. The proposed draft also calls for setting the percentage of lawyers for the post of District Judges as allocated by the JC.

Posted on: 2012-09-03 08:06

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