Gopal Parajuli has administered oath of office to President Bidhya Devi Bhandari in capacity of chief justice (CJ) on Wednesday after secretary of the Judicial Council wrote to the President's Office stating that Gopal Parajuli is no longer CJ, and the letter was made public in the media.
Secretary of the Judicial Council Nripa Dhwal Niraula had unexpectedly taken the secretary-level decision stating Parajuli was no longer in office Wednesday afternoon.
Secretary Niraula did not just send the letter informing about the decision to the President's Office, Prime Minister's Office and the parliament, but even made it available to the media.
But Parajuli administered oath of office and secrecy to President Bhandari in presence of Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli, and other national and foreign dignitaries after the letter was made public by the media.
Parajuli himself chairs the Judicial Council as CJ. Senior-most justice of the Supreme Court (SC) Deepak Raj Joshi, law minister, and Padam Prasad Vaidik and Ram Prasad Sitaula are the members of the Judicial Council. PM Oli currently heads the law ministry.
Secretary Niraula has taken the decision after studying the educational certificates and documents related to Parajuli's age controversy. It is not clear whether Secretary Niraula can officially take the decision.
If he has the rights to relieve CJ Parajuli of duty it raises another question as to how Parajuli can administer oath of office and secrecy to President Bhandari if he is no longer CJ.
Constitutional experts and politicians have been caught off-guard by this rapidly developing incident and they have yet to comment on this development.
