Committee fails to find nominees for Chief Justice Commissioner with qualifications mandated by Charter 

DHARAMSALA, 17 March: A three-member committee, constituted in accordance with the Charter of the Tibetans in Exile has conceded defeat in finding nominees for the Chief Justice Commissioner of the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission with the qualifications mandated by the Charter of the Tibetans in Exile.

While former chief justice commissioner Lobsang Dhargyal along with former Kalons(Ministers) Rinchen Khando and Thupten Lungrig constituted the three-member committee the Kashag and the parliament jointly entrusted to file nominations for the seats of the justices in accordance with Article 63 (1) of the Charter of the Tibetans in Exile, Speaker Khenpo Sonam Tenphel announced that the committee has failed to file nominee for the post of Chief Justice Commissioner meeting the qualifications mandated by Article 63 (2) c of the Charter.

Apart from being “a citizen of Tibet” and having “completed the age of 50 years” as mandated in Article 63 (2) a and b, the clause c requires nominees for “the Chief Justice Commissioner and the other two Justice Commissioners of the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission must have been a judge in any court for a continuous period of 5 years or has been an experienced advocate standing for at least 10 years.”

The difficulty in finding nominees came after the clause c of Article 63 (2) came into effect as the charter stated that after 30 years from the coming into force of this Charter, the provisions of this sub-clause( Article 63 (2) c) on the appointment of the Chief Justice Commissioner and the other two Justice Commissioners needs to be adhered to.

As the Tibetan parliament adopted the Charter on 14 June 1991 which was approved by the Dalai Lama on 28 June 1991 and it has been over 30 years since the charter came into force, the Charter now needs to be amended to fill the vacant seat of the Chief Justice Commissioner.