National
Sub-committee to probe charges against Karki
The Impeachment Recommendation Committee (IRC) of Parliament has formed a sub-committee to investigate into the charges levelled against Lokman Singh Karki, who was removed as the chief of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) following a court ruling on January 8.Binod Ghimire
The Impeachment Recommendation Committee (IRC) of Parliament has formed a sub-committee to investigate into the charges levelled against Lokman Singh Karki, who was removed as the chief of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) following a court ruling on January 8.
The IRC formed the sub-committee on Wednesday following Attorney General Raman Kumar Shrestha’s advice that the Supreme Court ruling “does not bar the House from taking the impeachment motion forward”.
Sherstha is among the three experts invited by the IRC on Monday to solicit advice on the impeachment motion against Karki. While two other experts—law secretary and chairman of the Nepal Law Commission—said on Tuesday that they would not be able to speak on the matter, Shrestha did not attend the IRC meeting.
The IRC had then again requested Shrestha to advise it. During Wednesday’s meeting, AG Shrestha suggested that the IRC could certainly take the impeachment motion forward if the allegations made against Karki carried substantive evidence.
As many as 157 lawmakers from the CPN (Maoist Centre) and CPN-UML on October 19 had registered an impeachment motion against Karki at the Parliament Secretariat, charging him with breaching the constitution, taking law into own hands, abusing authority to terrorise people, undermining Parliament by defying House panels’ summons and contempt of court.
The impeachment motion was sent to the IRC on January 8—the same day the apex court annulled Karki’s appointment as CIAA chief and declared him unfit for holding the post.
Following his dismissal, the IRC was in a fix over its next move as lawmakers from the Nepali Congress and UML were sharply divided. The IRC then decided invited experts to seek their advice.
The NC lawmakers on Wednesday also agreed to form the sub-committee following Shrestha’s advice.
The sub-committee, which has Deepak Kuikel of the NC, Rewati Raman Bhandari of the UML and Ram Narayan Bidari of the Maoist Centre as members, has been given 15 days to investigate into the charges levelled against Karki.
“The IRC will study the allegations and decide whether the accused needs to be impeached,” Bhandari told the Post after Wednesday’s development.