If the current row between the Judicial Council and Special Hearing Committee of Legislature Parliament is any indication, it shows that the end of rule of law and independent judiciary is not too far away. This is also a signal that the coming days will be more chaotic.

Democracy and rule of law start with respect for the individual as the fundamental tenet. Both die on substitution by the despotism of masses. The recent actions show that there is neither respect to law and respect to individual rights.

Dominated by overwhelming number of communist and misguided democrats, the present debate against the nomination of eight judges in the Supreme Court has already buried the sanctity of the judiciary and questioned its relevance.

Recommended by Judicial Council for the permanent judges, eight judges Vaidyanath Upadhyaya, Gopal Parajuli,Dipak Joshi,Govinda Kumar Upadhyaya,Cholendra Sumsher Rana, Om Prakash Mishra and Jagdish Paudyal are receiving all kinds of hate words.

They have been in judiciary for long. They have heard everyone start their pleading with respectable words, ‘your honor’ (Shreeman). However, this time, they are getting to hear something else. The judges were dishonored and disrespected by their fellows who pleaded before them in Appellate Court and even their past compatriots came heavily against them.

The whole mission seems as if it is seeking to destroy the judiciary. There is a ganging up of politicians, media tycoons and lawyers to destroy the sanctity of the institution which saved them at one or the other time in their quest for justice.

Even the Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee has degenerated the judiciary in a way that there is no respect at all for the institution which is supposed to deliver justice. Politically motivated, the recent actions of the hearing committee degenerated the whole process of hearing as well as judiciary.

“Honorary judges have already been dishonored and condemned without hearing. The members of the committee have shown that they are thoroughly incapable of respecting independent judiciary and honoring the judges,” said a senior lawyer.

Although the members of the committee have to work as judges, they themselves act as accusers. They have already forfeited their impartiality. According to natural justice, one should not condemn people without hearing. However, the committee members have already punished the judges.

The members are misguided and inquiry completely misdirected.  It is the duty of the candidate to defend himself. The Judicial Council’s role is just to make recommendation. The members can reject the recommendation.

The hearing committee is entirely a different committee from any committee in the parliament. The committee is supposed to function as a judicial tribunal to receive complaints and hear the accused candidates first. Then only decide about their fate -- approve or not approve their appointment.

"It is unfortunate that our hearing committee is competing with other complainers or accusers and they have already accused candidates without hearing them. Their expected role of impartial and neutral judges has already misfired,” the lawyer said.

For long the Judiciary has been under attack from communists. This has intensified after the elections and the nomination of five judges by the Judicial Council is a climax of the rehearsal what the communist can do to destroy the judges with backing of some former judges and lawyers who even don’t have any respect to the rule of law and independence of judiciary.

For the communist followers, it is not a big thing to employ judiciary as a tool to make mockery of democracy. Marx and Engels considered the judiciary as an instrument of oppression  and even today communist lawyers and their workers are guided and dominated by class hatred, class interests and class prejudices.

The recent utterance of CA members representing two major parties CPN-UML and UCPN-Maoist leave no doubt that these two parties have adopted wholesale communist philosophy and attitude towards the judiciary.

If communist lawyers are quoted rightly, their conduct is gravest contempt of court. This is the echo of the communist ideology. They are no respecters of law. It seems natural but the all out wrath against the judiciary seems to be well motivated. 

As Herbert Spencer said, "the function of liberalism in the past was that of putting a limit to the power of Kings. The function of true liberalism in the future will be that of putting a limit to the powers of parliament."