The ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has tasked its parliamentary party with deciding whether to pursue impeachment proceedings against Supreme Court judges linked to controversies involving intermediary Inam Sapkota.
The move follows revelations that Sapkota deposited money in Chief Justice Manoj Kumar Sharma’s name and exchanged WhatsApp messages with Justice Hari Prasad Phuyal about a case pending before the court.
The RSP has called for the matter to be resolved through constitutional mechanisms. Its parliamentary strength gives it considerable leverage in the process: it has 182 members in the 275-member House of Representatives, just short of the 184 votes required for a two-thirds majority.
Speaking after the secretariat meeting, RSP spokesperson and lawmaker Jagadish Kharel said Parliament was the constitutional forum for pursuing a broader restructuring of the judiciary.
“If we are to restructure the entire judicial sector, Parliament is the constitutional route. The process must move forward through the legislature. The party secretariat has therefore decided to instruct its parliamentary party to take the necessary steps,” Kharel said.
He said the decision reflected the party’s view that the judiciary needed restructuring and that allegations involving judges should be addressed through parliamentary proceedings. Any decision reached through that process would then be implemented, he added.
The party discussed pursuing impeachment initially against Justice Hari Prasad Phuyal, followed by proceedings against other judges whose names emerged in the investigation.
A senior RSP office-bearer said the party had concluded that there were signs of misconduct within the judiciary. The official cited Phuyal’s acknowledgement that he had met Sapkota as evidence of the concerns surrounding the case.
“The party has decided to write to its parliamentary party to initiate impeachment proceedings because questions have been raised about judicial conduct, and one judge has already acknowledged meeting the intermediary,” the official said.
The official said the parliamentary party would have to determine how broadly to pursue impeachment, depending on the evidence.
“The parliamentary party has been instructed because impeachment falls within its responsibility. It must play an active role in taking the process forward. There are other judges whose names have also emerged. The parliamentary party will decide whether to begin with one judge or include everyone implicated so far,” the official said.
The official added that as the evidence was examined, impeachment proceedings could be pursued against any other judges found to have been involved.
Jaya Singh Mahara is a reporter with a decade of experience covering parliamentary affairs and political developments.
