Kathmandu, Sept 12 (HS): In a major political development, Nepal’s former Chief Justice Sushila Karki has agreed to head the country’s interim government. The decision was reached during a meeting of Gen-Z groups with President Ram Chandra Poudel, in the presence of Army Chief Gen. Ashok Raj Sigdel. President Poudel formally requested Karki to take charge, a proposal she accepted.
It is a striking coincidence that Karki, who was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court when K.P. Sharma Oli chaired the Constitutional Council, has now been chosen to lead the interim government following Oli’s ouster from power.
A Tenure Marked by Bold Decisions
Karki served as Nepal’s Chief Justice for about a year, during which she delivered landmark verdicts against powerful political figures. She sentenced then-Information and Communication Minister Jayaprakash Gupta to prison for corruption, becoming the first judge in Nepal’s history to send a sitting minister directly behind bars. She also ruled against Lokman Singh Karki, the controversial head of the anti-corruption bureau, removing him from office—a move that eventually forced him into exile in Canada.
Political and Academic Roots
Born in Biratnagar, Sushila Karki hailed from a family close to Nepali Congress founder B.P. Koirala. Though her father wished for her to become a doctor, Karki pursued academics instead. She earned a Master’s degree in Political Science from Banaras Hindu University, where she later married Durga Prasad Subedi, a close associate of B.P. Koirala and a young leader of the Nepali Congress. After returning to Nepal, she studied law at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu and went on to teach at several colleges. She became a prominent lawyer and even served as president of the Biratnagar Bar Association.
Faced Impeachment but Emerged Stronger
Karki also faced political turbulence during her judicial career when an impeachment motion was brought against her in the Nepali Parliament. The move led to her temporary suspension, but the Supreme Court later overturned the decision, reinstating her as Chief Justice. Her case prompted a constitutional reform, removing the clause that allowed automatic suspension of the Chief Justice once an impeachment motion was filed.
Controversial Past of Her Husband
Her husband, Durga Prasad Subedi, was notably involved in Nepal’s most controversial plane hijacking on June 10, 1973. At the time, Nepali Congress leaders, including former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, orchestrated the hijacking of an aircraft from Biratnagar to Farbisganj, Bihar, to seize around 3 million Nepali rupees being flown from banks in Biratnagar to Kathmandu. The funds were intended to support the armed struggle against King Mahendra’s Panchayat system and to push for a multi-party democracy. The aircraft also carried 19 passengers, including Bollywood actress Mala Sinha. The looted money was smuggled to Darjeeling by road. Subedi and other hijackers were later arrested in Mumbai but were released during the Emergency in 1975.
With her acceptance of the interim government leadership, Sushila Karki becomes the first former Chief Justice in Nepal’s history to assume the role of head of state affairs, marking another groundbreaking chapter in her distinguished career.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
