The recommendation comes as a continuity of the tradition to recommend the senior most justice to the top post of the judiciary. The council had received four names including Kalyan Shrestha, Girish Chandra Lal and Sushila Karki as the eligible candidates from the Judicial Council some two weeks ago.

Friday’s meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Sushil Koirala. Opposition leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Speaker Subas Nembang, Chief Justice Damodar Sharma, ministers Bam Dev Gautam, Ram Sharan Mahat and Minendra Rijal are the members of the CC. As required, Law Minister Narahari Acharya was present in the meeting that recommended the chief justice.

Shah’s name has been forwarded to the Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee which will issue a public notice calling for complaints, if any, against the nomination. Shah, upon passing parliamentary hearing, will replace Sharma after his retirement on October 10.

Shah’s tenure will last less than nine months as he, like Sharma, will retire upon reaching the age limit of 65. Shah, born on July 8, 1950, joined the judicial service in 1974 as a section officer at the Supreme Court. In 1976, he was appointed a district court judge, a position he held until 1986.

Justice Shah also served as the district attorney in Kathmandu from September 7, 1979 to February 16, 1981.

He was later appointed as a zonal court judge in 1986 and continued to hold the position until 1991.

Thereafter, he served as an appellate court judge from 1991 to 2004. In 2004 he was appointed the chief judge of an appeal court.

A year later, Shah made it to the apex court. Currently, Shah chairs various panels such as Case Management Committee, Central Judicial Sector Co-ordination Committee, High level Budget and Infrastructure Allocation Committee, Juvenile Justice Co-ordination Committee and Construction Committee.