Valley
Sushila Karki recommended for chief justice
The Constitutional Council (CC) on Sunday recommended senior-most Justice Sushila Karki for the post of Chief Justice.The Constitutional Council (CC) on Sunday recommended senior-most Justice Sushila Karki for the post of Chief Justice (CJ).
A meeting of the council, which was deferred earlier in the day due to absence of Speaker Onsari Gharti, made the decision later in the evening after getting nod from the speaker.
Karki will take charge as the new CJ once the president formally appoints her after the Parliamentary hearing on the recommendaiton. Incumbent CJ Kalyan Shrestha retires on April 13. The chief justice will go on a month-long customary leave before the expiry of his term.
Karki’s nomination is considered as yet another milestone in women’s leadership in the state mechanism. Last year, Nepal elected Bidhya Devi Bhandari as the President and Onsari Gharti as the House Speaker.
Karki is known for her zero tolerance against corruption in the judiciary. Born in June, 1952 in Biratnagar, she had joined the apex court as an ad-hoc justice upon recommendation from the Nepal Bar Association.
She holds a post-graduate degree in political science from Banaras Hindu University, India, and a law degree from Tribhuvan University. Since November 18, 2010, Karki has been serving as a permanent judge.
She will remain at the helm for around 13 months. As an apex court justice, Karki has issued a number of landmark verdicts. She was among the justices who convicted sitting Minister for Information and Communications JP Gupta of corruption.
In January, a bench comprising Karki had ordered the government not to give amnesty to UCPN (Maoist) leader Bal Krishna Dhungel. The bench had annulled the decision of then-Cabinet led by Baburam Bhattarai to grant amnesty for Dhungel, who was convicted of murdering Ujjan Kumar Shrestha of Okhaldhunga during the Maoist insurgency.