Three former Special Court judges who gave clean chit to communication minister Jaya Prakash Gupta on corruption charges are set to face action for wrong judgement and dereliction of judicial duty.

While handing down one and half year jail sentence and Rs 8.4 million fine to Gupta for corruption while holding public office, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered action against the three-member Special Court bench comprising its then chairman Bhupdhoj Adhikari and judges Komal Nath Sharma and Cholendra Shumsher Rana that had acquitted Gupta in their 2007 verdict.

Apex court joint bench of justices Sushila Karki and Tarka Raj Bhatta stated that the Special Court bench passed a wrong judgement by ignoring the evidences of corruption involving Gupta.

Adhikari is now retired from judicial service while Sharma and Rana are still serving as appellate court judges. The bench of Adhikari, Sharma and Rana had given clean chit to a number of former ministers, high-ranking police officers and civil servants on corruption charges filed by the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA).

Those acquitted then included former minister and Nepali Congress Govinda Raj Joshi, former minister Rabindra Nath Sharma and former Home Ministry secretary Padam Prasad Pokharel, Defence Ministry secretary Chakra Bandhu Aryal and former Inspector Generals of Police Motilal Bohara and Achyut Krishna Kharel.

Ironically, most of the high-profile corruption cases were brought before the Special Court during the tenure of the bench headed by Adhikari from 2 February 2006 to 4 November 2008.

As ordered by the Supreme Court, the Judicial Council will now look into the type of action to be taken against the three judges. nepalnews.com