Suspended Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana said that the impeachment motion was filed against him to make Deepak Karki the Chief Justice. In a statement given to the Parliamentary Impeachment Recommendation Committee on Wednesday, Rana said that he had to face false accusations while trying to strengthen the judiciary. “The impeachment motion was brought to make Deepak Karki the Chief Justice,” he said.

While recording his statement, Chief Justice Rana said that he came to the Impeachment Recommendation Committee to respect the Parliament.

He further said that some elements are trying to weaken the judiciary. Meanwhile, he expressed his dissatisfaction over the impeachment motion registered against him. “Why did the ruling coalition bring the impeachment motion proposal?” he questioned, “The CPN-UML should have brought the proposal.” Rana said that the impeachment motion should be filed against five other incumbent justices of the Supreme Court, not only him. On top of that, he said that the Parliament should maintain power balance with the judiciary. Rana reached Singha Durbar to give his statement this morning. The Parliament has formed an 11-member committee to look into the case. One-fourth of the members of Parliament had tabled an impeachment proposal against Rana as per Article 101 (2) of the Constitution of Nepal. As many as 98 lawmakers of the ruling coalition on February 13 had registered the motion against Rana. The then Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party Whip Pushpa Bhushal, Maoist Center Chief Whip Dev Gurung and Unified Socialist Party Whip Jeevanram Shrestha were the proposers. The proposal was supported by 95 lawmakers. Earlier, the Nepal Bar Association had staged protests for 109 days demanding resignation of Rana.