32 May, Kathmandu. The most senior judge of the Supreme Court. Anand Mohan Bhattarai retired on Friday due to the age limit of 65 years. While working in the Supreme Court for 7 years and 10 months, he has set dozens of precedents in various fields.
During his stay in the Supreme Court, Justice Bhattarai remained above controversy in his conduct, disposition and administration of justice. He kept warning when the judicial leadership was in controversy many times. He became excellent even among his contemporary judges in judicial conduct and integrity.
He continued to use the academic knowledge of the legal field in administering justice. There is a sufficient reflection of it in the examples he presented.
He is a very mature judge. Judiciary will immediately feel the vacancy after his retirement’ says Purnaman Shakya, professor of law and senior advocate, ‘He was seen as standard in his academic ability. It is a challenge for the new generation of judges to excel themselves for administering justice of his level.’
‘The Jurisprudence of Corruption’
Dr. Bhattarai, the senior most judge of the Supreme Court, presented important judicial principles in some corruption cases. Especially in three cases, the approach he has put forward is such as to guide the judicial work for a long time. He has poorly explained the content of evidence in crimes like corruption, which is abuse of power and taking benefits based on it.
Along with him, the bench of Bishwambhar Prasad Shrestha explained that ‘judiciary cannot ignore the mismanagement in public companies’ in the much-discussed corruption case of Vishal Bazar. In the judgment of Vishal Bazar corruption case, there is an explanation about the corruption within the company and the corporate sector and the accountability of those involved in it.
Similarly, in the case of illegal wealth acquisition, the Supreme Court has compared the issue of illegal wealth with the global environment. It is explained that in the case against Devendra Dangol, an engineer of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, it is considered an independent crime worldwide and it should be judged based on the abundance of evidence. Dr. Bhattarai wrote an opinion on both these examples.
In another case related to examination result manipulation, the Supreme Court explained that financial gain and loss alone cannot be the standard of corruption. In another case of Joint Secretary Jayanarayan Acharya, the Supreme Court explained that such a person is guilty as long as he submits a fake certificate and takes benefits or benefits from it.
He wrote the opinion in the judgment of the 5-member bench that heard the first case related to Ncell’s tax dispute. A 5-member bench including him explained that even if Telia Sonera, which had invested in Ncell, left Nepal, the liability to pay capital gains tax would be Ncell’s. Although the case on capital gains tax, which has been concluded by the Constitutional Court, has been decided, the full text is yet to be prepared.
His judgments on some issues related to civil rights have established new jurisprudential standards on criminal justice, human rights, and civil rights. The Supreme Court has explained the issue of animal protection and animal slaughter and transportation of animal products from a rights-oriented perspective. He also explained about land delimitation and proper distribution of land.
The bench including him said it was unfair to revoke the passport of Maoist fighter Lenin Bista to prevent him from going abroad. Judge Bhattarai was involved in the judicial review of the decision of the state to recognize a party’s special day as People’s War Day as ‘unfair’.
In the case where the football players were charged against the state, the bench he was involved in explained that ‘it is not acceptable to stretch the law made for another purpose to charge a crime against the state’. In the case of Kunjaek Lama, who was accused of wildlife and akhetopahar smuggling, his bench had explained the ‘maximum limit of judicial intervention during the petition for arrest warrant’.
Judge Bhattarai’s bench seems to have raised serious questions about the inconsistency in following the constitution and laws and the state’s extrajudicial actions. He put forward the point of view that citizens cannot be deprived of citizenship forever by showing the reason for not amending the Act.
Regarding the corruption case filed against Binod Kumar Gautam, who has become a judge, the court in which he was involved dismissed the indictment in the case of Gautam. Even in the case of road expansion in Kathmandu, the Supreme Court had asked to give proper compensation while respecting the property rights of the citizens.
During the time of Covid, he gave judicial recognition regarding the fact that only certain communities benefited from the treatment of citizens in an inclusive system. Some even criticized the judicial opinion that the benefit of the inclusive principle adopted by the state should not be given only to the ‘Tarmara class’.
‘Aware of environmental destruction’
Judge Dr. Anand Mohan Bhattarai delivered important judgments regarding environmental justice. He published books and dozens of research articles in various journals on biological diversity, environmental justice and other topics, and environmental law was also a subject of interest for him.
Three years ago, the government announced in the budget that it would remove the roadblocks from Chure and stop the trade deficit. In the same case, the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court has given a long explanation on the issue of protection of theft, the opinion of which was written by Bhattarai. Judge Dr. Bhattarai wrote an opinion on the destruction of Chure as ecocide.
“Among the precedents set by him from the Supreme Court, his contribution is more important in the issue of environmental justice,” says senior advocate Prakashmani Sharma, “He was sensitive to the issue of natural destruction and has drawn attention to the impact of natural destruction on future generations through several examples.”
Senior advocate Sharma Chure considers the conservation verdict to be another important decision in environmental justice after the Godavari Marvel mine conservation verdict. Apart from that, Dr. regarding monument and public property protection. Bhattarai has given important explanations and judicial opinions.
Land conservation in Pashupati region, land conservation in Guthi, Goraksha Guthi dispute in Dang are examples of this. The bench headed by him had declared that there should be strict protection of Guthi’s property established for the protection of religious and cultural heritage.
The 7-member full bench, including Justice Bhattarai, brought a new judicial recognition of contempt of court into the debate. Which established the belief that writing factual news, criticizing the conduct and activities of judges is not contempt of court.
Four and a half decades of contribution
He entered the judicial service in 2036 and later became a co-registrar of the Supreme Court and became a judge. Before coming to the Supreme Court, he created the image of a learned judge while working in the District and Appellate Courts.
He had established his image as an academic judge from the district. He was the one who promoted the view that the name and identity of the victims of violence should be kept secret in the context of juvenile justice,’ says Geeta Pathak Sangroula, professor of law and senior advocate, ‘after coming to the Supreme Court, he showed great sensitivity in some cases of human trafficking.’
Apart from editing justice, he has gained fame in academic writing and scholarly talks in universities. Very few judges in the Supreme Court are good at writing judgments. Judge Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada who retired two months ago and Dr. Bhattarai created an image as a judge who renders judgments and judicial opinions of the same level. Moreover, the influence of academic knowledge and content was more visible in Judge Bhattarai’s decision.
Advocate Omprakash Aryal, who is also the president of the Constitutional Lawyers Forum, considers three people of the 2070s to be excellent judges of different abilities. In his analysis, former Chief Justice Kalyan Shrestha excelled in legal philosophy and logical analysis.
Judge Bhattarai, who has been active in judicial service for about 43 years, spent more than three decades in administration of justice.
Judge Ishwar Khatiwada, who retired three months ago, had the quality of getting to the bottom of the matter with thorough analysis and writing accurate judgments. ‘Anand Mohan Bhattarai’s judgment used a lot of intellectual knowledge and reference materials. It seems that he wrote the judgment after thorough research on the subject matter,’ he says, ‘Academically, he is a very capable judge. He contributed to the judiciary by revealing his academic investigative ability in writing judgments.
Apart from being a justice editor, Judge Bhattarai remained undisputed in terms of conduct and judicial image. His working style was not digestible for some legal practitioners, but no one could question his judicial integrity and conduct, so he remained uncontroversial.
Apart from being a justice editor, Bhattarai was interested in building a network of justice workers from different countries, sharing experience and knowledge. He shared his experience with the judges of India, Pakistan and other countries about the challenges and achievements faced by the judicial sector of Nepal in this decade. According to him, the Gola process which started in Nepal for the selection of the court and the case had become a matter of interest for some countries in South Asia.
Senior Advocate Purnaman Shakya says that even after retirement, the society expects some contribution from Judge Bhattarai in the judicial and legal field. “Nepal Bar Association has advocated for policy reforms that the range of retired judges should be wider,” he says, “The bar’s emphasis is that judges who can contribute to society should not be narrowed down.”
Judge Bhattarai, who has been active in judicial service for about 43 years, spent more than three decades in administration of justice. He became a judge of the Supreme Court for almost 8 years and retired as a member of the Judicial Council. Senior Advocate Dr. Geeta Pathak Sangraula says, ‘There is a shortage of a mature judge in the Supreme Court. The most qualified person should be selected to deal with this situation.’
When he came to the Supreme Court as a judge, the constitution had just come into existence. After he came to the Supreme Court, the judicial leadership was embroiled in controversy twice. Most of the judges, including him, stood in favor of court reform.
‘I am very happy to be able to join the great work of restoring the judiciary which is about to be damaged’. Bhattarai told Online Khabar, ‘I will spend the rest of my time in reading.’
