A month after the impeachment motion was registered against Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana, it was tabled in the House of Representatives for further discussion on Sunday.

Dev Gurung, chief whip of CPN (Maoist Centre), tabled the motion, amid obstruction from lawmakers of the main opposition CPN-UML.

As many as 98 lawmakers of the Nepali Congress, the Maoist Centre and CPN (Unified Socialist) had registered the motion on February 13, resulting in Rana’s automatic suspension.

While tabling the impeachment motion, Gurung presented 21 reasons why Rana must be impeached. He said that Rana is incompetent and incapable of performing his role as the chief justice and that he couldn’t maintain transparency while fixing benches and finalising the cause list.

“He used his family members and judges and justices, appointed by him, as middlemen for his personal benefit,” said Gurung. “He transferred judges unilaterally when it was within the authority of the Judicial Council.”

Gurung said that Rana demonstrated unprofessionalism by not going on a leave even when he was hospitalized after contacting Covid-19.

Rana was hospitalized in the last week of November for treatment for Covid-19 at the Armed Police Force Hospital in Balambu, on the outskirts of Kathmandu. He, however, didn’t take a leave.

Gurung also said that the fact that justices and law professionals had boycotted him proves that he was not capable of leading the judiciary.

The next meeting of the lower house called for Wednesday will start deliberations on the motion, announced Speaker Agni Sapkota.

The parliament on March 6 formed an 11-member study committee to study allegations against Rana.

The ruling coalition partners that have filed the impeachment motion against Rana, however, lack the numbers to endorse it.

The motion against Rana must be passed by the two-thirds members of the House. Given the current strength of the House at 271, as many as 181 votes are required.

The UML, which has 97 members in the House of Representatives, must vote in favour of the motion to pass the impeachment motion against Rana.