OM PRAKASH YADAV JOINS SP Kathmandu, 10 June: Om Prakash Yadav Sunday quit TMLP in Rupendhaehi and joined SP. Yadav is a former lawmaker. Nnnn MEDIA GOOGLE “The government is committed to holding polls because it does not want to be branded as a failed government but the NC and the UML want to sabotage the polls.” (Maoist Chairman Prachanda’s reported statement as quoted by The Himalayan Times 10 June) nnnn. SLC RESULTS TUESDAY Kathmandu, 10 June:: The Office of the Controller of Examinations (OCE), Sanothimi, is making preparations to publish the results of School Leaving Certificate (SLC) Exams 2069 within two days, The Himalayan Times reports.. Currently, the OCE is entering students numbers into the main server at the office. Prahlad Aryal, deputy controller at the OCE, today said they are rechecking the numbers entered into the server. “The numbers entered into the server for the first time can be erroneous, therefore we need to recheck it all to make the results error-free,” he said adding, “Once we finish rechecking, announcing the results will not take much time.” According to Aryal, they will complete the preparatory works tomorrow or a day after tomorrow. “Most probably, we will publish the results by Tuesday. Our aim is to publish the results as soon as possible,” he added. Last year, the OCE had published result on June 13. An officer at the OCE said they aim to publish the results earlier this year. Education Secretary Som Lal Subedi, who is also chairman of the Secondary Exam Pass Committee, had visited OCE today to inquire about progress in publishing the results. The exams were held from March 14 to 22 this year. Rules have it that the OCE should publish SLC results within 90 days of completion of the exams. OCE had claimed that it will not take more than 90 days to come out with the results. According to the OCE, a total of 547,165 students — 430,097 from regular category and 117,067 examinees from exempted category — had appeared in the exams. As per the directives related to SLC examinations, students, who have failed in two subjects, can be granted five grace marks if they can pass the exams. Nnnn JUDGES APPOINTED THROUGH OPEN COMPETITION Kathmandu, 10 June: Finally, the Judicial Council today recommended the appointment of 169 judges in appellate and district courts ending the eight-month long Process, Ananta Raj Luitel writes in The Himalayan Times.. Including 27 lawyers, the judges appointing body selected a huge number of judges at midnight. This is the first time the Judicial Council has inducted such a high number of judges in the appellate and district courts. It had sought applications from interested candidates eight months ago and finished the interviews in January. The JC has appointed 80 appellate court judges and 89 district court judges, according to Krishna Giri, spokesperson of the JC. “We have included a good number of lawyers in the appointments in appellate court, but could not induct lawyers in the district court because the law does not authorise their appointment in the district courts,” he added. The JC finalised the process after a week of meetings. A high number of women, Madhesi and backward communities and also from the backward region have been appointed. Including the ten already serving as additional judges, appellate courts have a total of 80 judges and it has also appointed 33 new additional judges in the appellate courts. Thirty-four district court judges were promoted to the appellate courts. Three special class judicial service officials were inducted, two senior advocates and 25 lawyers were appointed. But for district courts, legal officials were promoted as judges. Deputy Attorney General Pushpa Raj Koirala, Judicial Council Secretary Jiwan Hari Adhikary, Deputy Attorney General Prem Raj Karki, senior advocates Nagendra Lav Karna and Muhammad Sabir Hussen have been chosen as permanent judges in appellate court. While government joint attorney Yuba Raj Subedi, advocates Keshav Raj Joshi, Ramesh Bahadur Thapa, Bhanubhakta Sharma Neupane, Pramod Kumar Vaidya, Ramesh Prasad Bhandari, Srimankumar Gautam, Umesh Kumar Singh, Hari Prasad Bhandari, Abdul Azzij Mushalman have also been chosen for the permanent judgeship. For additional judgeship in appellate court, the JC has selected senior district court judges and also it has inducted the senior government joint attorneys including Saroj Prasad Gautam, Rajendra Kumar Pokhrel, Agni Prasad Thapalia, Rishi Ram Dawadi. Government joint secretary Kedar Prasad Paudel, advocates Ishwori Prasad Ghimire, Nityananda Pandey, Rajeshwor Tiwari, Dinesh Prasad Yadav, Krishnalal Bhattarai, Nara Bahadur Shahi, Shanti Singh Thapa, Narayan Prasad Shah, Jagannath Mahato Singh, Tej Bahadur Rai, Yamuna Bhattarai, Nandalal Mahato, Manoj Kumar Sharma, Sarita Sharma, Nilam Paudel and Anita Manandhar. The interesting part of this appointment is that the JC selected acting Chief Justice Damodar Prasad Sharma’s nearest relative advocate Manoj Sharma for additional judge at the appellate court. “This is a good ratio that the Judicial Council has given for lawyers,” Tika Ram Bhattarai, Vice-President, Nepal Bar Association welcomed the decision of the JC. But he also expressed serious dissatisfaction at the non-allocation of quota for lawyers while appointing judges in the district courts. “This is an objectionable decision with regard to district court judges’ appointment because this has violated the rights of lawyers as ensured by the Interim Constitution,” he added. nnnn