Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission hears Penpa Tsering vs Kashag case
DHARAMSALA, 5 Jun: The Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission(TSJC) on Wednesday held its first hearing on the lawsuit filed by Penpa Tsering against the Kashag(Cabinet) of the Central Tibetan Administration(CTA).
The case, filed by the former Tibetan Representative of North America, Penpa Tsering charges the CTA President Dr Lobsang Sangay led 15th Kashag of false accusations over his termination from the Office of Tibet in Washington, CTA’s mission in North America.
Registered as case no 20, the hearing of the case began today before the Chief Justice Commissioner and two other Justice Commissioners of the TSJC located here in Gangchen Kyishong, the Central Tibetan secretariat.
After hearing opening arguments from Namgyal Tsekyi and Lobsang Dakpa, the lawyers representing Penpa Tsering and the Kashag respectively, the court declared as agreed by both parties that the Kashag has the prerogative to terminate the services of its representatives and that the case is irrelevant to that of the denomination(Tsen-ney) of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Penpa Tsering though accepted Kashag’s decision to terminate him from the office, he refuted the 10-point clarification it issued over its decision to terminate him from the office.
While the Tibetan Cabinet cited growing trust deficit, underperformance and insubordination as key reasons in its 10-point clarification issued on 18 Nov 2017, Penpa Tsering called these untrue, incomplete and manipulative allegations.
Penpa Tsering was terminated from the office as per Chapter 1 Article 1(3) of the Tibetan Charter and Article 19(1) of the Tibetan Public Service Commission rules and regulations according to a circular issued on Nov 7, 2017 by the Kashag.
The former Tibetan Representative of North America who attended the hearing today at the court approached the TSJC on 18 May 2018 alleging false accusations by the Kashag over his termination from the office.
“I approached the court because I am not at fault. Though I can’t say what will be the verdict of the court, we Tibetans should accept the court’s verdict,” Penpa Tsering told reports then while approaching the court.
Meanwhile, though the TSJC opened the hearing of the case a year after it was filled, there is no information available at the moment about the next hearing.
