Nepal's chief justice sacked for 'faking' date of birth

KATHMANDU: Nepal’s Chief Justice Gopal Parajuli was sacked on Wednesday for faking his date of birth in order to remain in office longer. But he denied the accusation.

The controversy over Parajuli’s date of birth has been brewing for months after he charged a prominent activist and Nepal’s largest newspaper with contempt of court for raising concerns about his multiple birthdays.

A judicial council concluded that Parajuli should have retired seven months ago when he turned 65, the age of retirement for official positions in Nepal.

According to the judicial secretariat, Mr. Parajuli’s date of birth is Aug. 5, 1952. Tikaram Bhattarai, a lawyer in Kathmandu, the capital, said that Mr. Parajuli was masking his real date of birth because he was older than 65, the age when a chief justice is required to retire in Nepal.

The decision came just moments before Parajuli administered the oath of office to Nepal’s President Bidya Bhandari, who was reelected for a second term on Tuesday.

Mr. Parajuli, in his terse interview to the local media, who assumed his position just eight months ago, insisted that his birthday was April 28, 1953, meaning he was still 64 and could remain in office.

In January, Parajuli also ordered the arrest of anti-corruption activist Dr Govinda KC, an orthopedic surgeon well-loved in Nepal for his philanthropic work, for raising questions about his date of birth.

Parajuli became chief justice last June after his predecessor Sushila Karki — the first woman to hold the position — turned 65.

It all started when Kantipur Publications, one of Nepal’s largest media companies, published an article about the birth date discrepancy. Later a contempt-of-court case was filed by a lawyer with ties to Mr. Parajuli against three people: Kailash Sirohiya, the company’s chairman; Sudheer Sharma, the editor of Kantipur Daily, a newspaper owned by the company; and Krishna Gyawali, the reporter who wrote the story.

The case still continues.