CHANDRA LAL JHA DEAD Kathmandu, 28 July: Ailing senior journalist Chandra Lal Jha publisher and editor of the defunct Nepal Times died Friday. He was known for his biting pen. Jha was 74 and died at home. nnnn TWO HELD FOR FINANCIAL FRAUD Kathmandu, 28 July: The Central Investigation Bureau of the Nepal Police today carried out coordinated raids on two houses in Lalitpur and arrested as many ‘most-wanted’ men for their involvement in fraud and forgery, The Himalayan Times reports. The arrested are Bijaya Kumar Das of Morang and Tanka Nath Acharya of Sindhuli. DSP Om Prasad Adhikari said the two had managed to get hefty loan and credit cards from various banks and financial institutions by counterfeiting legal documents and identities. “Das and Acharya were caught in the acting of hatching a plot to cheat banks and financial institutions,” he informed. A CIB investigation suggests that Das counterfeited a citizenship certificate (no. 12083) in the name of Bijaya Sharma allegedly from District Administration Office, Morang. Upon inquiry, the person identified as Bijaya Sharma was not found in the records book. “Das managed to secure a loan of Rs 2.5 million from the Thapathali-based Imperial Finance and Rs 1.1 million from Baneshwor-based Stuti Finance by submitting the same citizenship certificate and other forged documents in the past two years,” DSP Adhikari said. More than that, Das managed to obtain credit cards from Standard Chartered Bank and Global Bank in the name of Bijaya Sharma. The story of Acharya is no different. He forged a citizenship certificate (no. 675/21987) in the name of Binod Acharya allegedly from District Administration Office, Sindhuli, ‘to operate the fraud and forgery racket in the hope of making fast buck’. During an investigation, the person bearing the name of Binod Acharya was not found to have obtained the citizenship certificate. It has been revealed that he had procured credit cards from Standard Chartered Bank and Global Bank by submitting forged citizenship certificate and other documents. DSP Adhikari said they were handed over to Metropolitan Police Range, Lalitpur, to press with forgery and banking offences charges. Nnnn • PM, CJ TUSSLE COULD HUMBLE JUICIARY Kathmandu, 28 July: An ongoing ‘tussle’ between the heads of the executive and the judiciary — with no legislature in place — may lead to a vacuum in the apex court, Ananta Raj Luitel writes in The Himalayan Times. . A highly placed source at the Judicial Council told this daily that the JC has not been able to hold its meetings due to what he called ‘personality conflict’ between Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai and Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi. “Prime Minister Bhattarai himself is holding the law portfolio now, but he does not seem to be keen to attend the (JC) meeting, which could affect the appointment of judges,” the source said. In the absence of Parliament, parliamentary hearing for judges’ appointment — as required by Article 155 of the Interim Constitution — is not possible, and a crisis in the judiciary is looming large with seven Supreme Court justices retiring by January. With only five justices remaining in the apex court after that, justice dispensation will be hit hard. “In the official hierarchy, the prime minister is one rung above the chief justice. The prime minister is also the chairman of the Constitutional Council where chief justice is an ex-officio member. He refused to attend the meeting, citing the official hierarchy,” added the source. Recently, Prime Minister Bhattarai refused to attend the meeting of the Law Service Commission as law minister. The commission had recommended Lohit Chandra Shah for the post of registrar of the Supreme Court. Bhattarai had signed the minute seeking the attorney general’s presence in the meeting. The JC on Wednesday held an informal meeting without Bhattarai. “The AG is a member in the Law Service Commission, but he does not have any role in the JC which requires the law minister to take any decision as per the existing practice,” he said. When asked whether the prime minister will attend JC meetings, AG Mukti Narayan Pradhan declined to comment. Judicial authorities, however, say if Bhattarai has any problem to attend the meeting, then he must assign the law portfolio to some other minister so that meeting(s) could be held to find a way out to avert crisis in the judiciary. “We should not stick to the parliamentary hearing when there is no Parliament. That’s why we have been discussing a suitable and less controversial solution,” said Khem Narayan Dhungana, a member at the JC. According to Dhungana, the judicial authorities have been discussing three options: Conducting public hearing by JC itself, appointing judges based on JC’s recommendation or invoking presidential power as per Article 158 of the Interim Constitution to remove difficulties. Dhungana said he had taken up the issue with Chief Justice Regmi and some government authorities as well. Dhungana added that the JC was also mulling over writing to the President to pave the way for judges’ appointment sans parliamentary hearing under the doctrine of necessity. nnnn