Parliament commences discussions on impeachment motion

Kathmandu / Oct 25: The Legislature-Parliament has begun discussions on the impeachment motion against Chief of the Commission for the Investigations of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) Lokman Singh Karki.

The parliamentary discussions on the motion registered by 157 lawmakers including Mahendra Bahadur Shahi of CPN (Maoist Centre) last Wednesday commenced from today.

The impeachment proposal filed in accordance with the Article 101 (2) of the Nepal’s constitution and Rule 1 (138) Legislature-Parliament Regulations is the ever-first impeachment case in the country’s parliamentary history.

Lawmakers wishing to air their views on the proposal individually will also be given time for the same. The motion presented by lawmaker Shahi was seconded by CPN (UML)’s lawmaker Bhanubhakta Dhakal.

In the impeachment motion, CIAA Chief (now suspended) Karki has been accused of directing the Tribhuvan University to take official action against some doctors in accordance with the provisions of the Interim Constitution even after the promulgation of the new constitution.

He was impeached for exerting pressure on the Nepal Medical Council officials and the concerned University to increase enrollment seats at the KIST Medical College where his close kin are said to own the share. He was accused of unnecessarily interfering in MBBS entrance exams of the Kathmandu University.

Furthermore, he is accused of giving unnecessary trouble to government employees in the pretext of investigating into corruption in contravention of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2059 BS.

The charge against Karki includes taking revengeful actions against those persons and organizations critical of his performance, causing obstructions in the business of the judiciary and barring a team from the Supreme Court from serving the notice issued by the apex court summoning him to defend his appointment as the CIAA Chief.

Violations of the office code of conduct, misuse of his post, attempt to manipulate the bureaucracy, serious violations of the constitution and existing laws, failure to abide by office responsibilities, lacking competency and bad conduct are other charges leveled against Karki in the impeachment motion.

Taking part in the preliminary discussions on the motion today, lawmaker Shahi accused the CIAA Chief of using the CIAA, a constitutional body formed as per the principle of the separation of power to control corruption, as a platform for fulfilling family and personal interests.

Karki, instead of working abiding by the rule of law and demonstrating high moral integrity, degraded the image of the Commission thus shattering the people’s desire for building a corruption-free society, Shahi argued. RSS