(TibetanReview.net, Sep19’24) – In what came as a huge sigh of relief to the hundreds of Tibetans, many of them emotionally concerned elderly men and women who had travelled from across India, Nepal as well as other countries, the Tibetan Parliament in Exile (TPiE) has finally amended today the Charter of Tibetans in Exile to provide for the appointment of the justice commissioners of the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission (TSJC), the apex body of the judicial organ of the exile Tibetans.
On the final day of the 8th session of the 17th TPiE, 35 members – which was more than the required two-thirds majority of 30 – voted to amend the relevant provisions of the Charter, reported the Tibetan-language tibettime.net Sep 19.
The Charter’s outlandish provision that a candidate for justice commissioner of the TSJC 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” has continued to prove to be impossible to meet inasmuch as it has not been possible to make out what these qualifications, adopting the phraseology of the judicial system in an independent country, mean in the exile Tibetan context.
The TSJC has been able to carry on thus far because these professional requirements have been dispensed with for a total of 30 years with a series of Charter amendments to a proviso to this qualification since 1991. Further amendment of the Charter to extend this proviso in 2021 was thwarted by a section of the TPiE members who vehemently wanted all the existing justice commissioners of the TSJC to vacate their posts following a controversial TPiE resolution, known as Document No. 39, which sought to summarily remove them from office. The TPiE took that action after the TSJC had imposed a token penalty on the TPIE’s Standing Committee members for violating the Charter in not convening a meeting of the TPiE for its regular biannual session during the Covid pandemic. The TSJC said an online meeting could have been held.
The amendment of the Charter for the appointment of justice commissioners became possible after another Charter amendment was introduced and adopted. This was an amendment to Article 63(4) of the Charter, which now limits the term of the justice commissioners (other than that of the chief justice commissioner) to 5 years, instead of until the age of 65. However, such justice commissioners will remain eligible for appointments as chief justice commissioner if he has not crossed the age of 65.
This amendment means that the only existing justice commissioner of the TSJC will stand superannuated, since his term, now limited to five years, ends this month. The chief justice commissioner and the other justice commissioner have already retired years ago.
The chief justice commissioner’s term continues to be 5 year or until the age of 65, whichever comes earlier.
With this, the amendment of Article 63(2)(c) of the Charter prescribing the professional qualifications for appointment as justice commissioners of the TSJC as well as the proviso to it was allowed to be discussed and voted on. This means that for another 10 years, a candidate can be appointed as a justice commissioner of the TSJC without being required to fulfil the professional qualifications prescribed by the Charter.
Meanwhile, a proposal introduced by the Kashag also sought to amend Article 37(1)(b) of the Charter to provide for the representation of the Jonang school of Tibetan Buddhism in the TPiE. However, it received support from only 21 members as against the required two-thirds majority of 30. The TPiE currently has two seats each for the Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya and the Gelug schools of Tibetan Buddhism and the pre-Buddhist Tibetan religion Yungdrung Bon. Jonang followers have for long been demanding representation in the TPiE, but have again been left disappointed.
Meanwhile, the amendment of the Charter to provide for the appointment of the justice commissioners of the TSJC was applauded by the hundreds of Tibetans – many of them elderly – taking part in a protest sit-in under the banner of the “People’s Movement for Securing the Central Tibetan Administration” which was organized by a group called “The Advocacy of the General Public for the Sustainability of CTA” during the TPiE session.
The group has been protesting against what it saw as a belittling of the status of the judiciary in the CTA set-up, thereby compromising its democratic character. The group’s leader Ms Tenzin Yangkar has called the adoption of the amendment a fulfilment of its hope, saying the campaign was meant to strengthen the three-pillar character of the CTA democracy. She has called it a historical moment in Tibetan democracy.
The group’s leader Tseten Phuntsok has also welcomed the Charter amendment success, calling it a good day for the exile Tibetan people and expressed gratitude to all the TPiE members.