CJ Regmi can't be PM: NBA members

Newly elected office-bearers of the Nepal Bar Association (NBA) along with a group of constitutional lawyers have said that installing the Chief Justice to the post of Prime Minister will run counter to the Interim Constitution and will seriously compromise the independence of the judiciary.

Organising a press meet in Kathmandu Monday, they criticised Chief Justice Khil Raj Remi for getting ready to become the Prime Minister as per the UCPN (Maoist) proposal as he has spoken on it yet.

Newly elected NBA chairman Hari Krishna Karki said the Chief Justice as the head of the judiciary cannot become the head of the executive on constitutional grounds. "As the custodian of the constitution the President should not let this happen," said he.

NBA vice chairman Tika Ram Bhattarai accused Chief Justice Regmi of "trying to compromise whatever is left of independent judiciary." By proposing Regmi as the PM of the election government the Maoists just want to have him by its side,he argued.

Similarly, NBA general secretary Sunil Pokharel said the foundations of the country's judiciary would be shaken if the Nepali Congress and the UML accepted the Maoist proposal.

Similarly, NBA president Karki, vice president Bhattarai, general secretary Pokharel and advocates Harihar Dahal, Shambhu Thapa and Bhimarjun Acharya in a joint statement called on the President to reject the idea of CJ-led government.

They also met the President in the evening and conveyed their concern. Nepalnews.com