KATHMANDU, Nov 16: The suspended chief of Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) Lokman Singh Karki on Tuesday appeared before the Supreme Court in person in a case related to the contempt of court.
Karki had reached the apex court at around 4 pm to furnish a written clarification on the contempt of court case for the involvement of his aides in obstructing the court messengers from serving court notice at his residence in mid-Baneshwar earlier.
Karki has demanded that the contempt of court case be quashed as the court notice was served at his private residence which has been rented out instead of serving it at his official residence in Tangal where he has been residing since his appointment as the CIAA chief.
“I received all the court notices at my official residence. Since there was no such untoward incident while serving the notices at my official residence, this proves that I have helped in each judicial act of the court,” Karki has said in his written clarification.
Karki, in his clarification, has questioned as to why the court notice was served at his private residence which is currently rented out. While arguing that his private residence has been rented out since the last three years, Karki has said that the attempt to serve court notice at his private residence was made with an intention to defame him.
Earlier on November 8, the apex court had issued an order to Karki and his aides who had obstructed serving court notice to be present before the apex court to furnish clarification on the contempt of court case within a week. A single bench of Justice Ananda Mohan Bhattarai had issued the order to furnish written clarification in person.
Karki's son-in-law and his relatives were among those obstructing the court officials to serve notice at his private residence. A contempt of court against Karki and his aides was filed by Advocate Om Prakash Aryal on October 28.
Four other cases against Karki, including his failure to meet the required qualification to be CIAA chief, and a separate case demanding that all his state privileges be scrapped following his suspension as the chief of the anti-graft body are pending in the court. The apex court has scheduled to hear all his cases on December 1.
Karki submits reply in contempt of court case
