An impeachment motion against Chief Justice Sushila Karki was officially withdrawn from Parliament on Tuesday, a day before her official retirement. 

Speaker Onasari Gharti during Tuesday’s Parliament meeting informed that the impeachment motion had been officially withdrawn.

As many as 249 Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist Centre) lawmakers on April 30 had filed the impeachment motion against Karki. The Supreme Court five days later on May 5, however, had stayed the impeachment motion, asking the House not to move it forward and allowing Karki to return to office. 

Min Bahadur Bishwokarma of the NC, who had proposed the impeachment motion, and Tek Bahadur Basnet of the Maoist Centre, who had seconded the motion, on May 29 had submitted an application at the Parliament Secretariat, seeking to withdraw it. 

The NC-Maoist Centre alliance had faced severe criticism from several quarters for its move to impeach a sitting chief justice. The governing alliance had sought to impeach Karki, accusing her of interfering in the executive’s decision-making and promoting groupism in the judiciary.

Karki assumed office on July 11 last year as the first female chief justice of the country. 

Karki had an eventful tenure. The apex court on January 8 declared Lok Man Singh Karki unfit for holding the post of chief of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority. 

The appointment of chief of police became hugely controversial when the court quashed a Cabinet decision to appoint Jaya Bahadur Chand. The bench’s order to promote Nawaraj Silwal as the inspector general was said to have unnerved the NC-Maoist Centre alliance that went on to file the impeachment motion against her.