Parmanand Jha

Parmanand Jha परमानन्द झा
1st Vice President of Nepal
Incumbent
Assumed office  July 23, 2008
President	Ram Baran Yadav
Preceded by	Office created

Nepal
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Nepal
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President (List) Dr. Ram Baran Yadav
Vice President (List) Parmanand Jha
Prime Minister (List) Madhav Kumar Nepal
Council of Ministers (List)
Parliament Constituent Assembly Chairman Subash Chandra Nemwang Vice Chairman Purna Kumari Subedi
Judiciary Supreme Court Chief Justice Ram Prasad Shrestha
Elections
Election Commission Constituent Assembly: 2008 Presidential: 2008
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Parmanand Jha (Nepali: परमानन्द झा) is the Vice President of Nepal and a former Supreme Court judge. He hails from Mauwaha VDC-1, Saptari District.^[1] Jha resigned as a judge in December 2007 after he was not proposed by the Judicial Council as a permanent judge at the apex court, following allegations of involvement in drug smuggling. Later, Jha joined political life becoming a member of the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum.^[2] On July 19, 2008, Jha was elected vice-president of Nepal by the Constituent Assembly.^[3] He was nominated by the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum.^[4] After the election, Jha vowed that he would work in an independent manner, free from party interests.^[2]

Contents 1 Term of Office 2 Oath in Hindi and Aftermath 2.1 Writ Petition against Jha 2.2 Court order to retake oath 2.3 VP's position becomes defunct 2.4 VP's position reactivated 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Term of Office

He took his tenure on July 23^[5] after Chief Justice Kedar Prasad Giri administered the oath of office and secrecy to the Ram Baran Yadav first president at the presidential palace, Shital Niwas. Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, among others, was also present. Yadav also administered the oath to vice president Parmananda Jha.^[6][7].

[edit] Oath in Hindi and Aftermath

He came into controversy after he took the oath of office and secrecy in Hindi^[8], which is the mother tongue of less than 1% of the Nepali population^{[citation needed]}. This led to a widespread agitation throughout the country^[8][9][10]. The media gave a good coverage to this.^[11][12][13] Many news sites and blogs were suddenly filled with comments on this issue. The views expressed in the sites were mixed. While many people expressed that the swearing in was unconstitutional ^[9], leaders of Jha's party came up with a view that this act was permissible^[14].

[edit] Writ Petition against Jha

A writ petition was filed by Bal Krishna Neupane at the apex court claiming that the oath was unconstitutional as it was taken in a language not recognised by the interim constitution^[8][15]. In response to this, the Supreme Court on 28 July 2008 asked the government and the Vice President Parmananda Jha to furnish written explanation regarding the oath taken in Hindi^[16][17]

[edit] Court order to retake oath

Even after a deadline of 7 days^[18], V. P. Jha had been ignoring the court's order for his written clarification ^[19] but he once expressed regret^[20] via a statement clarifying that his taking oath in Hindi language was not to pinch at sentiments of any Nepali citizen^[21][22]. After a year long court procedure, the Supreme Court issued order to Vice President Parmananda Jha to take oath of office and secrecy for the second time. The verdict was issued on July 24, 2009 after the court concluded that taking oath in Hindi language is not constitutional as per prevailing laws of Nepal^[23].

However, VP Jha has objected to the Supreme Court verdict accusing the court verdict being biased and influenced by conflicting interests. He wanted to decide whether or not to retake the oath after consulting political parties and ‘the people he represents^[24].’ Some news sources also reported that VP Jha was speaking in Nepali while he claimed that he 'politically' does not understand Nepali language^[25][26].

Even as the Cabinet has urged him to take oath of office and secrecy as per the orders of the Supreme Court, Vice President Parmananda Jha said that he can only consider re-taking oath after all the languages spoken in Nepal 'are given due respect'. The Supreme Court's verdict on the deadline for retaking the oath expired on August 30, 2009.^[27]

[edit] VP's position becomes defunct

Paramananda Jha's position as the Vice President has become defunct from 31 August 2009, with his refusal to take oath in Nepali. According to the Supreme Court's verdict, Jha cannot perform any duties in capacity of the VP and is not entitled to special security and privileges given to him as the VP.^[28] Jha is now in a situation where he has been elected as the VP by the parliament, but hasn't taken oath. A person elected to public office is not allowed to use national flag in his residence and vehicle and is not entitled to VVIP security until he/she takes oath.

[edit] VP's position reactivated

After six months off duty, Vice President's post was reactivated from February 7, 2010, after he took fresh oath of office and secrecy^[29]. It is speculated that there will be no protests against his oath this time as he took the oath both in Nepali and his mother tongue Maithali. Taking oath in mother tongue other than Nepali is permitted after a recent amendment in current Constitution letting President, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ministers to take oath of office and secrecy in their respective mother tongues^[30].

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Interview Video: Nationality is not in crisis, says VP Jha
• A blog post in a popular Nepal based blog.
• A blog entitled "We Love Parmanand Jha"
• Video of oath taking, second half of the video has Jha's oath
• Protests

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Name	Jha, Parmananda
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