Nepal gets first female chief justice

The Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee of Nepal on Sunday unanimously endorsed Sushila Karki as the chief justice, making her the first woman to head Nepal’s judiciary.

Before lawmakers approved her nomination, Karki furnished clarifications on six complaints filed against her at the committee, according to PHSC Chairman Kul Bahadur Gurung.

On April 14, she assumed work as the acting chief justice in the capacity of the senior most justice after outgoing Chief Justice Kalyan Shrestha retired on April 12.

Two issues-her property details, and concerns of the names picked as apex court justices-were discussed by a majority of the committee members, Gurung said.

‘Sushila Karki clarified everything that was asked to her with concrete documents. She was then unanimously endorsed,’ Gurung told the Post.

Responding to allegations that she had amassed property disproportionate to her legal source of income, Karki provided details of her asset transactions in Biratnagar, reports Kathmandu Post.

On the controversy surrounding Senior Advocate Sapana Malla Pradhan with ‘party affiliation’ being nominated as an SC justice, Karki clarified that former CJ Shrestha and Law Minister Agni Kharel were not the only ones behind her nomination. ‘I was the one who was adamant that we needed someone from the female fraternity to be nominated as a justice,’ Karki told the committee.

Defending Pradhan’s seat in the first Constituent Assembly through proportional representation in the CPN-UML quota, Karki asserted that all the 11 justice nominees were capable for their apex court roles.

‘I also used to be the Morang district president of the Nepali Congress-affiliated student union; that is no big deal. I cannot be labelled a party cadre just for that,’ Karki said.

Karki claimed to have solved in seven years and seven months 8,765 cases, and looked into 935 more after being appointed the acting CJ.

Born on June 7, 1952, Karki began her legal practice in March 1979. She was appointed an ad-hoc justice at the SC on January 22, 2009 and was promoted to a permanent justice on November 18, 2010. She will head the judiciary till June 6, 2017.

The Constitutional Council on April 10 had recommended her as the CJ. However, since the major political parties were at loggerheads over the number of members in the new PHSC, her appointment was delayed in the absence of parliamentary hearing-a constitutional requirement.

The committee will next hear from 11 justice and 21 ambassador nominees. On Friday, the committee unanimously passed Ayodhee Prasad Yadav as the chief election commissioner.

Karki’s appointment gives Nepal three women in top positions including Bidhya Devi Bhandari as the President and Onsari Gharti Magar as the Speaker of Parliament.