The Constitutional Council on Tuesday decided to recommend Acting Chief Justice Deepak Raj Joshee for the vacant position of the Supreme Court chief justice. Officials said the chief of the constitutional anti-graft body would be recommended in the next meeting of the council.

The top judiciary post has remained vacant after chief justice Gopal Prasad Parajuli resigned on March 15. Joshee has been leading the top court as the acting CJ since.

According to Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Sher Bahadur Tamang, who is a member of the council, Joshee was picked for the post for his “high moral character, honesty and skills”.

On March 27, the Judicial Council (JC) recommended three senior most justices to the Constitutional Council (CC) for appointment as the chief justice. Acting CJ Joshee and Justices Om Prakash Mishra and Cholendra Shumsher Rana were picked on the basis of seniority. Joshee will undergo parliamentary hearing before President Bidya Devi Bhandari appoints him to head the judiciary. However, the Parliamentary Hearing Committee has yet to be formed.

Parliament Secretary Gopal Nath Yogi said the process of forming various House committees including the hearing panel started on Monday with Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara directing all the chief whips of political parties to form them within a week.

However, Tuesday’s meeting of the CC headed by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli did not discuss the candidate to head the anti-graft body. Minister Tamang said the CIAA chief would be recommended at the next meeting. Posts of the chief commissioner and a commissioner at the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority have been vacant since February 13.

Nabin Kumar Ghimire is the acting chief commissioner of the CIAA. Chief commissioner Deep Basnyat retired on February 13 on age ground. The constitutional body has Ganesh Raj Joshi, Raj Narayan Pathak and Sabitri Gurung as the other commissioners.

Meanwhile, the government is finalising organisational structures of the new constitutional commissions. Dinesh Thapaliya, a secretary at the Ministry for Federal Affairs and General Administration, said the ministry has almost finalised the structures and will propose them most probably in the next Cabinet meeting.

The National Women Commission and the National Dalit Commission that had no constitutional status before the new constitution came into force in 2015 have their new structures ready.