Lawyers who had led the protest against the then Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana have claimed there is ample ground to impeach him.

Appearing before the Impeachment Recommendation Committee on Thursday, they rubbished Rana’s allegations against them saying he made baseless claims to prove himself clean. During his five-day-long question-answer sessions at the committee, Rana had accused several lawyers of bargaining with him to appoint their kin as judges and justices. He had also claimed they ganged up on him after he rejected their demands.

The recommendation committee on Wednesday had decided to invite the lawyers named by Rana while defending himself at the committee. Though the sitting and former justices refused to appear before the committee, the lawyers obliged the calls.

Speaking at the committee meeting, the lawyers said irregularities were at their peak in the judiciary under Rana and he was involved in corruption right from the moment he was appointed judge.

Senior advocate Shambhu Thapa said Cholendra Shumsher Rana feels that impeachment motion will not get endorsed as long as he can appease a particular party. The 271-strong House of Representatives needs a two-thirds majority to endorse the impeachment motion registered on February 13. However, the ruling parties that lodged the motion lack the number. The motion cannot get endorsed from the House without the support from the main opposition CPN-UML.

Without naming the UML, Thapa said, “Rana thinks he is shielded from getting impeached if he can win the confidence of a particular party. However, he has passed controversial verdicts and promoted corruption. He needs to be impeached.”

Also speaking at the meeting, advocate Om Prakash Aryal said Rana had defamed many people under the pretext of defending himself. Rana had claimed the then chair of Nepal Bar Association Chandeshwar Shrestha had demanded him to appoint Aryal’s wife Chundevi Maharjan to the post of a high court judge. “This is clearly a character assassination by Rana. The parliamentary committee must take the matter seriously,” he said. “The committee must have sought evidence to justify his claim.”

The committee has already asked 43 questions to Rana and plans to ask supplementary questions. “Rana has been called for Friday morning for further questioning,” said Laxmi Gautam, secretary of the committee.