Chief Justice objects to constitutional court

KATHMANDU, March 15: Chief Justice Ram Prasad Shrestha on Monday voiced his objection to the decision taken by the subcommittee under the Constitutional Committee on having a provision for setting up a separate constitutional court in the new constitution citing such mechanism will weaken democracy.

CJ Shrestha, who returned to Nepal from a weeklong Pakistan visit on Monday evening, told Republica that establishing a constitutional court will hamper democratic values and independent judiciary.


Shrestha gave three main reasons for his objection against the formation of a constitutional court.

First, this type of court will result in crisis of coordination among courts. Second, there might be serious disputes about the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court (SC) and the Constitutional Court and such disputes may delay the justice. And third, the Constitutional Court will burden the country´s exchequer and therefore not feasible in developing countries like Nepal.

"I am not happy with the decision taken by the subcommittee. The decision to form constitutional court does not augur well for democracy and independent judiciary," CJ Shrestha told Republica, adding, "There is bound to be crisis of coordination between Constitutional Court and Supreme Court because it is obvious that the judges for the Constitutional Court will be appointed politically." Shrestha further said that politically appointed judges cannot be expected to give free and fair decisions.

"Giving a right to the chief justice to form a separate bench within the apex court to handle the cases expected to be handled by Constitutional Court is more appropriate, feasible and relevant in our context," Shrestha added.

Members of the subcommittee under the Constitutional Committee of the Constituent Assembly (CA) at a meeting on Friday decided to form a separate constitutional court and entrust it with the final authority to interpret the constitution and laws.

The subcommittee decided that the constitutional court would look into issues related to the positions and rights of national importance, issues directly related to politics and to determine if the laws are in contravention of the constitution.

As per the subcommittee decision, the chief justice of the Supreme Court (SC) will be the chairman of the constitutional court.

Provisions related to the jurisdiction, appointment of judges of constitutional court, their qualifications and termination is yet to be finalized in detail.