(TibetanReview.net, Jul02’23) – The three-judge strength of the exile Tibetans’ apex judicial body at Dharamshala is now effectively reduced to just one with a major faction of the members of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile (TPiE) remaining determined to thwart any move to appoint replacements for the retired duo. This followed the just announced retirement of the Acting Chief Justice Commissioner Mr Karma Dadul.
The Acting Chief Justice Commissioner of the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission (TSJC) has announced his retirement from service after having served in the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) in varied positions for almost 46 years, reported the CTA on its Tibet.net website Jul 1.
Mr Karma Dadul became a justice commissioner on Oct 1, 2018, and Acting Chief Justice Commissioner in 2021 on the retirement of the Chief Justice Commissioner Mr Sonam Norbu Dagpo as no replacement could be appointed in his place.
Earlier, in a controversial move in Mar 2021, which outraged the exile Tibetan community, the TPiE summarily removed all the justice commissioners of the TSJC. The move was seen as a payback for the TSJC’s penalization of the TPiE’s standing committee members for being unable to explain satisfactorily their failure to hold the next session of the TPiE within the constitutionally stipulated period.
While a section of TPiE members later accepted their mistake, and the illegality of the controversial move, a major faction kept insisting on calling the justice commissioners’ continuance in their service illegal so long as the resolution for their removal remained in place.
The latter members have also opposed or thwarted every parliamentary move concerning the TSJC so long as the “removed” justice commissioners continued to be in service.