PAC recommends impeachment of two SC judges
The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has decided to recommend to the parliament to initiate impeachment proceedings against two sitting judges of the Supreme Court (SC).
The PAC meeting chaired by its president MP Chitra Bahadur KC, today, decided that two SC judges Badri Kumar Basnet and Arjun Bahadur Singh are guilty of wrongdoing in issuing a verdict that let off Mahalaxmi Sugar Mills in a bank loan defaulting case. According to 1990 Constitution, only the two-third majority of House of Representatives can impeach any Supreme Court judge. If it goes ahead, this will be the first impeachment of judges of apex court after 1990.
The two judges have been charged of issuing a wrongful verdict when in January this year, a division bench comprising the two had issued the verdict revoking the earlier decision to blacklist the Mills.
This case was then taken up by the PAC after five major banks wrote a joint letter to the parliament in August demanding that Supreme Court (SC) judge duo Arjun Prasad Singh and Badri Kumar Basnet be subjected to impeachment since their decision hampered in the recovery of loans. The banks claimed that the decision by the two judges ordering the withdrawal of Mahalaxmi Sugar Mills from the black list of willful defaulters was 'intentional' and caused losses to the tune of over Rs 1.22 billion.
The five banks and commercial institutions that wrote the letter include Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB), Nepal Bank Limited (NBL), Himalayan Bank, Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Nepal Industrial Development Corporation (NIDC).
The Non Performing Loans of the banks have become one of the greatest problems of financial sector of the country at present. Officials have said that the total outstanding loans to banks stand at Rs 28.73 billion – almost one quarter of total annual budget. nepalnews.com sd Oct 29 06
