KATHMANDU, Jan 22: Setting a historic precedent, Chief Justice Ram Prasad Shrestha on Friday made public his property details through the Supreme Court (SC)´s website -- www.supremecourt.gov.np. No previous chief justices, justices or judges have made public their property details till now.
As per his commitment expressed some three months back, Shrestha disclosed his property details, which he had been submitting annually at the Judicial Council (JC).
The chief justice has made public the property he accumulated over a 10-year period. All judges are required to submit their property details to the JC every year. However, the JC, as per the JC Act, doesn´t make the property details public.
According to the details made public on Friday, CJ Shrestha owns a three-storey house on a four ana land at Lajimpat.
"I disclosed my property details as per my commitment I had expressed during Russian chief justice´s visit to Nepal," CJ Shrestha told Republica, adding, "This move will help keep every judge´s property transparent."
He further said judges who are interested to make public their details can now do so through the SC website. "The trend of disclosing property details will ultimately help people know how judges have been accumulating properties," CJ added.
CJ´s old house in Anamnagar has now been transferred in the name of his son Sanjeeb Shrestha. "I received Rs 3.5 million from my elder son Snajib after transferring that home in his name. I took Rs 800,000 in loan from the Employees Provident Fund and Rs 200,000 from the Citizen´s Investment Trust. I have invested altogether Rs 4.5 million in my house that I bought in Lajimpat some five years ago," the CJ has said in his disclosure statement.
CJ´s son Sanjeeb, who is an aeronautical and flight engineer, had bought a car for his father. The home in Anamnagar was built after selling lands in Birgunj and Pokhara.
CJ possesses 14 tola of gold, 200 tola of silver and one diamond ring. "The sources of the gold, silver and the diamond ring were dowry, ancestral property and gift from sons abroad," reads the disclosure.
The CJ however has not disclosed his cash holding. "The government provided me altogether Rs 400,000 for foreign trips and thus the cash amount might have gone up slightly. However my immovable properties remain the same. I will also make details of my cash holding public in a few days," he told Republica.
http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=27443
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