Kathmandu, November 11
Discussions on the impeachment motion pending in the Parliament against suspended CIAA Chief Commissioner Lokman Singh Karki are likely to be a lengthy affair.
About three weeks ago, 157 lawmakers from the CPN-UML and the ruling CPN-Maoist Centre had registered an impeachment motion against Karki in the Parliament. Four days later, they presented the motion in the House. But lawmakers have discussed the motion for only about two hours, with the Parliament meeting taking place only on November 11 after a brief meeting about a fortnight ago.
The discussions are unlikely to end anytime soon as there’s a long list of lawmakers, who want to speak on the motion. Worse still, the next House meeting will take place only on November 14.
A day or two later, Speaker Onsari Gharti will leave for Russia on a weeklong visit. Speaker Gharti earlier planned to visit Norway, but she put off the visit, with the two parties registering the impeachment motion in the House against Karki.
If preliminary discussions on the motion had taken place, the House would have sent the motion to its Impeachment Recommendation Committee for an investigation. With the discussions unlikely to end anytime soon, the Parliament is likely to take quite a long time in deciding the fate of Karki.
Meanwhile, the committee is yet to approve its working procedure.
Friday’s meeting of the committee discussed a draft report that a sub-committee looking into the issue had prepared. But the meeting was inconclusive. The committee has distributed copies of the working procedure to its members. Committee member Aman Lal Modi informed that the committee will give finishing touches to the report after incorporation suggestions from members.
The next committee meeting is scheduled to take place on November 17.
Though formed more than three weeks ago, the 11-member recommendation committee is yet to choose its chair. Seniormost member of the committee, Laxmi Rai, is presiding over committee meetings as of now.
