BHARAT MOHAN ADHIKARY TO UNDER OPEN HEART SURGERY 8 DECEMBER Kathmandu, 5 Dec.: UML leader and former finance minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari, will undergo open heart surgery at Medanta Medicity in Gurgaon, India, 8 December. Daughter Liza Adhikari said this in a published report Wednesday. Nnnn IMF LIMOTS GROWTH PROJECTION TO 3.8 PERCENT. Kathmandu, 5 Dec.: International Monetary Fund (IMF) Tuesday projected a growth rate lower that earlier estimated by Nepal Rashtra Bank (NRB). IMF said growth will only by 3.8 percent this fiscal year lower that the 4.67 projection of the central bank. “The outlook for 2012-13 is challenging,” the agency said. “The spillover effects from declining growth in India — through lower export demand, weaker inward investment, and possibly less remittance — and the dampening effect of continued political uncertainty will also present further challenges to growth. “ Inflation is also on the rise pressuring prices few month The report noted erratic monsoon and slower services activity due to ‘possible’ slowdown of remittance growth. Declining growth in India will have a spillover effect, IMF said. nnnn IMMEDIATE JUDICIAL CRISIS AVERTED Kathmandu, 5 Dec.:: The crisis in the judiciary was close at hand, and for now it seems it has been averted, at least for two days, after the Judicial Council gave a pretty sharp twist to the tale, Ananta Raj Luitel writes in The Himalayan Times.. Supreme Court’s five ad hoc judges — Baidhyanath Upadhayay, Tarka Raj Bhatta, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, Kamal Narayan Das and Bharat Bahadur Karki — were set to retire today, leaving a huge vacuum in the judiciary, as no deal could be reached on ways to retain them. After daylong efforts by the government, parties and JC itself failed to find an outlet to the crisis, JC, the body that appoints the judges, at the eleventh hour gave a spin to the issue. It said the ad hoc judges can remain in office till December 6, for two more days. “Though they were appointed on December 5, 2010 they assumed the office on December 7,” Khem Narayan Dhungana, member, JC told THT, hinting that their retirement day is still two days away. “We will wait, and hope, for political consensus in the next two days on ways to retain them.” With today’s development, the five ad hoc judges, who were almost prepared to retire in the event of authorities’ failure to hammer out a deal, now have been forced to twiddle their thumbs for two more days. The authorities have two options at hand. First, the government recommends an ordinance to the President to amend the Judicial Council Act. Second, the President invokes Article 158 of the Interim Constitution. Earlier in the day, political parties did engage in talks to resolve the crisis but failed to make any headway after the Nepali Congress refused to budge, saying it wanted a solution in a package, not only to retain the judges. Thereafter, the government too held its horses. It neither forwarded an ordinance nor recommended invoking Article 158. Interestingly, there are also two days left for the parties to reach a deal on a consensus government. Legal eagles look askance KATHMANDU: The Judicial Council’s argument that the tenure of a judge starts from the day s/he assumes office, and not from the day s/he is appointed, has not gone down well with legal eagles. “This is a bogus interpretation. The tenure begins on the day the person in question gets the appointment,” said former attorney general Sushil Pant. Yadu Nath Khanal, President, Democratic Lawyers Association, also said the date of appointment should be taken into consideration to calculate the tenure of a service holder. “It does not matter when the person takes the oath of office,” said Khanal. Senior advocate Ram Prasad Shrestha, who is also the chairman of Progressive and Professional Lawyers’ Association, too echoed Pant and Khanal. Advocate Hari Prasad Upreti, an expert on bureaucratic cases, gave simple logic. “Check the official record in the JC bulletin, which calculates judges’ tenure from the day of their appointments. It’s as plain as day,” said Upreti. Nnnn 8,465 AT THE WHEEL AFTER DRINKING YET TO REPORT FOR FOLLOW-UP ACTION Kathmandu, 5 Dec.: Metropolitan Traffic Police Division today [Tuesday] said as many as 8,465 persons caught driving under the influence of alcohol were yet to report to the law enforcement agency to collect their seized driving licences, The Himalayan Times reports. MTPD spokesperson DSP Pawan Giri said 58,206 out of 66,671 drivers brought to book for drinking and driving turned up to pay the fine of Rs 1,000 each and attended an hour-long lecture on the consequences of drunk driving to get back their licences since December 2 last year when cops launched their crackdown. “MTPD records show that 8,466 persons, all motorcyclists, whose driving licences were seized for drinking and driving, are out of contact. Their licences have piled up in our shelves,” said DSP Giri. Asked why the concerned persons were not interested in paying the fine and collecting the driving licence, DSP Giri said most of them were from districts outside the Valley. “The tendency is to abandon their original driving licence and procure a duplicate copy from the Office of Transport Management citing ‘loss’, as it is cheaper than paying a fine of Rs 1,000,” he reasoned. Though the licence holder should collect it within 24 hours after it is seized, traffic cops return the licence to motorists at any time. According to MTPD, some persons staying in the Valley for a short period upon arriving here from foreign countries or before flying abroad were also among drunk drivers, who abandoned their driving licence. A duplicate licence is issued on the recommendation of MTPD. However, traffic officials said most people preferring duplicate licences were found to be forging the application and recommendation of MTPD to serve their purpose. MTPD is preparing to send details of people who have abandoned their driving licence to the Office of Transport Management, requesting it not to issue them duplicate licence. nnnn