The judiciary crisis in Nepal over the continuance of controversial Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana appears nowhere close to an end as lawyers have decided to boycott all hearings. This comes after judges in the Supreme Court resumed their work after Friday. 

The Nepal Bar Association (NBA) on Friday decided only to attend the habeas corpus petitions and boycott all others. Earlier, they had given Justice Rana a deadline till last Friday to resign. However, Rana didn’t budge, forcing the association to change its strategy, reported The Kathmandu Post. 

The entire controversy started with the allegation that Justice Rana had allegedly demanded - according to Nepalese media reports - “his share” of power in the current cabinet of the government-led Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. The media report claimed Justice Rana demanded at least two posts for his relatives. 

Importantly, Deuba came to power through an order in July passed by a Supreme Court bench led by Justice Rana. The suspicion grew after the ruling coalition led by Nepali Congress appointed Gajendra Hamal as the Minister for Industries in its recent cabinet expansion. Hamal, a relative of Justice Rana, was just a district-level leader in the party. 

When the controversy grew, Hamal resigned from his post three days after his appointment, which further fueled the suspicion. In a statement last week, the Supreme Court refuted these allegations, terming them all “baseless

Efforts by other judges to make him resign also failed after they failed to form a consensus. All judges of the apex court have now decided to return to work after they reached a temporary arrangement with the top judge. Instead of the chief justice, who has the power to assign cases, the judges will now introduce a lottery system to allot cases. 

Political parties, that have the power to remove him through a resolution in parliament, have so far stayed away from the controversy. And this has put lawyers in a fix as Rana has been resisting the demand of resignation. Former judges have also blamed Rana for bringing disgrace to the institution. 

(SAM)