National
PMO sends Karki appointment minutes to SC
The Prime Minister’s Office on Friday dispatched all relevant minutes related to the appointment of Lokman Singh Karki as the chief of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to the Supreme Court (SC).
The Prime Minister’s Office on Friday dispatched all relevant minutes related to the appointment of Lokman Singh Karki as the chief of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) to the Supreme Court (SC).
The move has opened the door for the apex court to review Karki’s appointment as the CIAA chief.
Earlier, the PMO and the Ministry of General Administration had expressed their inability to furnish the minutes to the SC saying that the documents “were lost” in the earthquake last year.
Karki was appointed as the CIAA chief in May 2013 by then government led by then sitting chief justice Khil Raj Regmi following a political agreement among the major parties.
Describing the government response as irresponsible, the SC on September 17 had warned of action against the concerned government bodies if Karki’s appointment files were not produced before the court within a week. Two days later, officials confirmed that minutes related to Karki’s appointment “were safe”.
SC sources confirmed that the apex court had received the minutes related to Karki’s appointment. A decision on the hearing date and justices who will hear the case will be taken next week, they added.
A full bench of Chief Justice Sushila Karki and Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Bishwambhar Prasad Shrestha on September 17 had granted permission for reviewing the SC’s earlier verdict regarding Karki’s appointment considering two major premises—his tenure in government service and constitutional provision about his moral character to head the constitutional body.
Karki’s appointment as the CIAA head was hugely debated and criticised.