National
Impeachment committee to summon people named by Rana
More questions await the suspended chief justice, besides 43 he’s answered.Post Report
The Impeachment Recommendation Committee has decided to summon the people named by suspended chief justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana during the questioning sessions at the committee.
The recommendation committee formed to investigate the allegations against Rana in the impeachment motion asked him 43 questions during five different sessions including on Tuesday. Responding to the questions, Rana has accused his colleagues, former Supreme Court justices, lawyers and politicians of corruption and conspiring against him.
He claimed that they organised protests against him demanding his impeachment because he refused to serve their interests. Rana has claimed that he rejected the proposal of some of the lawyers to appoint their wives as judges, and former chief justices ganged up on him because the wishes of some of them to head the National Human Rights Commission were not fulfilled.
“Rana had named many people. The committee will invite some of them whose statements matter, to substantiate the allegations against Rana,” Min Bishwakarma, a member of the committee from the Nepali Congress, told the Post. “The committee’s meeting on Wednesday will list out the names of those to be summoned.”
On Tuesday, the committee asked Rana eight questions from its bank of 43 questions. Now, he will be invited to answer supplementary questions—most probably on Thursday. Rana, on Tuesday, reiterated that all the allegations against him are baseless and meaningless. “He claimed that the allegations alone do not provide sufficient grounds to impeach him,” said Rekha Sharma, a member of the committee from the CPN (Maoist Centre).
The committee members had asked him about the charges that he amassed wealth through “irregularities” and that demanded a share in the Cabinet.
Rana had allegedly demanded a ministerial position in the Sher Bahadur Deuba Cabinet and Gajendra Hamal, his relative, was appointed as the minister for industry, commerce and supplies in October last year. Hamal, however, resigned within a few days after widespread controversy. Rana appearing before the committee rubbished the claim and rather insisted that he had requested the prime minister not to appoint Hamal as minister after learning about the appointment through the media.
The committee members say they are putting in all their efforts to submit their report before the term of the House of Representatives expires on September 18. “We are also writing the report while also continuing the questioning,” Laxmi Gautam, secretary of the committee, told the Post. “The committee’s meeting on Wednesday will decide its further move.”




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