Nepal’s Chief Justice Gopal Prasad Parajuli, relieved of his duties by Judicial Council on Wednesday, has resigned from his post on Thursday, The Kathmandu Post reports.
Spokesperson at President’s Office Hari Prasad Dawadi confirmed Parajuli met President Bidhya Devi Bhandari and submitted his resignation. Parajuli had reached Sheetal Niwas on Thursday.
Judicial Council relieved Parajuli of his post stating the investigation of documents showed he had attained the retirement age of 65 years seven months ago on August 5, 2017.
SC Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana on Monday boycotted a full bench that was hearing the contempt of court case against Kantipur daily, stating that Nepal’s Chief Justice Parajuli had already crossed his retirement age. Expressing dissatisfaction over CJ Parajuli, eight more SC justices followed suit, boycotting the bench assigned by CJ Parajuli on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Kantipur daily had published a series of stories about the discrepancies in date of birth in Parajuli’s citizenship certificates. On the basis of those reports, CJ Parajuli reportedly brought a contempt of court case against the daily.
On February 25, CJ Parajuli issued an interim order, asking the Press Council Nepal to stop such news from getting published in the future. The move drew national and international condemnations, terming it an attempt to muzzle press freedom against the provisions of the constitution.