The Regulation Drafting Committee of the Parliament on Friday decided to amend the provision of the proposed regulation that requires Supreme Court justices to take the oath of office before the Special Committee of the parliament.

Supreme Court (File Photo)

Supreme Court (File Photo)
The decision was prompted by a full court meeting called by Chief Justice Dilip Kumar Poudel where all the 21 SC justices decided not to go to the Parliament to take the oath of office.

As per the agreement, the judges will not go to parliament for oath taking. The lawmakers have also agreed to work out a new provision for oath taking by apex court justices.

“Since the Parliament proclamation is a sub-judice matter, we would not go to the Parliament to take the oath of office,” reports quoted Justice Anup Raj Sharma as saying.

The SC will test the constitutionality of the proclamation, as a writ petition has been filed against the SC refusal to test the constitutionality of the declaration.

The agreement to change the provision was reached at a meeting between some parliamentarians and apex court judges at the Supreme Court (SC) office of CJ Poudel.

During the meeting with Chief whip of the NC Ananda Prasad Dhungana, MPs Benup Raj Prasain and Parshuram Meghi Gurung and General Secretary of the Parliamentary Secretariat Surya Kiran Gurung, CJ Paudel, Justices Min Bahadur Rayamajhi, Kalyan Shrestha and Ram Kumar Prasad Shah opposed the House move.

The parliamentarians then assured the judges that they were committed to judicial independence.

“We are confident that the House will amend the provision,” report quoted Dr Ram Krishna Timalsena, register of the SC as saying.

All court hearings scheduled for Friday were cancelled due to the three-hour long meeting.