Chief Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut Retires Due to Age Limit

Kathmandu. Chief Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut is retiring mandatorily starting tomorrow. Raut, who became Chief Justice after serving as a Supreme Court Justice from a legal practice background, is set to retire tomorrow due to reaching the age limit of 65 years.

Supreme Court Spokesperson Arjun Prasad Koirala stated that Chief Justice Raut will be present in court today and will go into mandatory retirement starting tomorrow. Upon his retirement, the senior-most Justice of the Supreme Court, Sapana Pradhan Malla, will serve as the Acting Chief Justice. Malla, who will assume the responsibility of Acting Chief Justice, also comes from a legal practice background.

Prakash Man Singh Raut, who spent 33 years in advocacy and 8 years as a Supreme Court Justice, became the Chief Justice. He was already in the line of succession for Chief Justice when he joined as a Justice on Shrawan 17, 2073 BS.

He served as a member of the committee formed by the Supreme Court Bar Association to study the distortions and anomalies within the judiciary. He was also a member of the committee formed under the leadership of the then Supreme Court Justice Hari Krishna Karki to study the distortions and anomalies in the judiciary. 

Therefore, many expected his contribution to reforming the distortions and anomalies in the judiciary due to his past integrity, experience, and image. However, he is retiring mandatorily, leaving incomplete the expectation that the report led by Karki would be implemented. Although Raut, who vowed to end the distortions in the judiciary, made some structural improvements in the judiciary during his 18-month tenure, he could not implement the report submitted by the committee he himself was once involved in, ostensibly for judicial reform.