(TibetanReview.net, Jun04, 2016) – A day after being nominated by the Sikyong, approved by the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, and administered the oath of office by the Chief Justice Commissioner of the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission, it emerged that the youngest Kalon is a tad too young to be eligible to hold the office. As a result, Ms Dhardon Sharling is no longer the Kalon for the Department of Information and International Relations, Central Tibetan Administration, Dharamshala, the post to which she was otherwise appointed.
It was not clear who raised the issue for the first time. Ms Dhardon Sharling turned out to have been born on Sep 23, 1981, which made her three months and four days short of being 35, the minimum age prescribed by the Charter of Tibetans in Exile for appointment as a Kalon.
As a result, Sikyong Lobsang Sangay on Jun 3 admitted lack of due diligence in finding out the exact age of the candidate in question, submitted to the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission the necessary documents about her age, and decided to withdraw her from her post as Kalon.
The Sikyong has admitted his lack of proper care in determining her age, having gone by the fact that she was born in the year 1981 without bothering to find out the exact date. He has accordingly apologised to the parliament in exile, asserted that he did not intend to deceive anyone, and declared his withdrawal of her from the Kashag.
Dhardon Sharling too has admitted that it was all due to lack of proper care on her part, rather than being an attempt to mislead anyone, and expressed her apology to the people.
While some MPs expressed strong words on the development, including with an allegation of “breach of oath”, the Speaker Ven. Sonam Tenphel ruled that it was a simple case of “a slip up” on the part of the Sikyong and not “an intentional attempt to deceive” the parliament.
Ms Dhardon Sharling had won the highest number of votes among the U-Tsang candidates in the recently concluded election to the Tibetan parliament. Following her planned induction into the Kashag, she resigned her MP seat, which therefore went to Mr Tenzin Jamyang, the candidate with the highest number of votes not to win a seat among the U-Tsang candidates.
The 16th Tibetan Parliament in Exile concluded its first session on Jun 3 on that note.