The Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee on Friday started hearing on the appointment process of four ad hoc judges of the Supreme Court to permanent status.

The hearing committee is questioning four judges- Damodar Prasad Sharma, Ram Kumar Prasad Shah, Gauri Dhakal and Kalyan Shrestha -regarding the complaints about their integrity and other professional issues.

The committee has received altogether 14 complaints against the four judges who were recently recommended by the Judicial Council for permanent status.

Responding to the queries of committee members, justice Sharma said institutional reform is necessary to effectively control corruption in the judiciary and that taking action against few individuals would not make much difference in the state of affairs. He also said the parliament should take up the issue of corruption in the judiciary.

The committee completed the questioning of justices Sharma and Shah by 3:30 pm. Dhakal and Shrestha will separately face the hearing panel today itself.

The second amendment in the Interim Constitution last month made it mandatory for judge-nominees to go through parliamentary hearing.