The Parliamentary Hearing Committee decided at a meeting at Singha Durbar on Monday to invite complaints against four people recommended by the Judicial Council for appointment as justices of the Supreme Court. Committee chair Bodhanarayan Shrestha said a public notice will be published through public media on Kartik 9, giving the public a 10-day period to submit complaints.
Public notice to open complaint period
The committee’s decision begins a public complaint stage for the four nominees. The notice is scheduled to appear through public media on Kartik 9, and the period for submitting complaints will run for 10 days, according to Shrestha. The committee has not been reported as naming the four recommended candidates in the information available about Monday’s decision.
The call is directed at complaints concerning the people put forward by the Judicial Council for Supreme Court appointments. The committee’s announcement therefore concerns nominees whose appointments are under parliamentary hearing, rather than justices already appointed to the court. The public notice will provide the formal opening of the period during which complaints can be made.
Shrestha, speaking as chair of the hearing committee, confirmed both the planned notice and its 10-day duration. The meeting took place at Singha Durbar, where the committee made the decision. No further details about how complaints should be filed, what supporting material may be required, or when the committee will consider submissions were provided in the announcement.
Judicial Council recommendations now before the committee
The four proposed appointments originated with recommendations from the Judicial Council. The Parliamentary Hearing Committee’s decision places those recommendations into a process that includes an invitation for public complaints. The notice gives people an opportunity to raise concerns about the proposed candidates before the committee’s hearing process proceeds further.
The announcement does not specify whether any complaints have already been received, nor does it describe concerns or allegations against any of the four nominees. It also does not identify the candidates or set out the committee’s assessment of their qualifications. The immediate next step stated by the committee is publication of the notice on Kartik 9, followed by the 10-day complaint window.
That distinction is important: the Judicial Council has recommended the four people, while the committee is now calling for complaints as part of the parliamentary hearing stage. Monday’s decision, by itself, does not announce the final appointment of any of them to the Supreme Court.
Committee’s next stated step
For now, the timetable set out by the committee is limited to the public notice and the period for submissions. Shrestha said the notice would be carried through public media on Kartik 9 and would allow 10 days for complaints. The committee has not announced a date for a further meeting or provided details about decisions following the complaint period.
The announcement marks the start of public scrutiny of the four Judicial Council recommendations within the hearing process. Further information about the candidates, the complaints received, or the committee’s subsequent proceedings was not included in the details released about Monday’s meeting.
