A group of Nepali parliamentarians on Sunday filed an impeachment motion against Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana, The Kathmandu Post reported.

Rana’s fellow judges and lawyers have accused him of encouraging corruption in the judiciary, ANI noted. Lawyers have also alleged that he deliberately delayed reviewing a murder case involving former Deputy Inspector General of Armed Police Force Ranjan Koirala.

A total of 98 legislators filed the motion against Rana in the Parliament Secretariat. Legislators from the Nepali Congress, Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) and Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Socialist) filed the impeachment motion, the secretary of the Parliament Secretariat Gopal Nath Yogi said.

The Nepali Congress heads the ruling coalition in the country.

Minister for Law and Justice Dilendra Prasad Badu and Nepali Congress Whip Pushpa Bhushal were among the parliamentarians who signed the impeachment motion, according to PTI.

Under Nepal’s Constitution, one-fourth of the members of Parliament can file an impeachment motion against any official on a constitutional post. However, a two-thirds majority is needed for the motion to pass.

A total of 181 votes in the 271-member Parliament are needed for the motion to be passed. If that happens, the chief justice will automatically be suspended from his post, according to The Kathmandu Post.

Ranjan Koirala case

In 2012, Koirala allegedly murdered his wife and then disposed of her body in a forest on the outskirts of Kathmandu. On April 20, 2014, the Kathmandu District Court held him guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Subsequently, a bench comprising Chief Justice Rana and Justice Tej Bahadur KC reduced the sentence to eight-and-a-half years. A separate bench of the Supreme Court later granted permission to review the verdict.

However, fifteen months later, no hearing has been scheduled in the matter, according to ANI.

Rana had also faced criticism from the Nepal Bar Association after one of his relatives was made a minister in the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.