The speaker of Tibetan Parliament in Exile(TPiE) has resigned from the post after impeaching the top three judges of the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission(TSJC). Recently concluded session of the parliament witnessed one of the most discussed outcomes and it drew a lot of public attention. In short, the balance of three pillars of Tibetan democracy broke apart from the outcome of the parliament sessions.
Pema Jugney on Thursday morning announced his resignation through his social media and his office has confirmed of the news. There has been a lot of debate over the legality of Pema Jugney headed 16th Tibetan Parliament in Exile impeaching all three judges of the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission in late March this year, in its 10th sessions. The move came after a press interview of former head of exile Tibetan government, Professor Samdhong Rinpoche.
Speaker had in August last year decided to postpone the scheduled 9th parliament sessions for September 2020 till March 2021 owing to the situation of the Coronavirus pandemic. However, it was deemed illegal by the TSJC and directed the speaker led Standing Committer of TPiE to withdraw the decision and make relative efforts to hold the scheduled parliament sessions.
This situation led to a collision of contesting legality of respective decisions. When the speaker led TPiE denied to comply to the TSJC, the latter announced a penalty of suspending the voting rights of the 11 standing committee members of TPiE for six months. However, when the parliament sessions convened in late March this year, the committee brought the motion to impeach all three judges to protect the charter. 31 out of 41 present at the session on March 25 voted in favour of impeachment.
Professor Samdhong Rinpoche in the interview with Voice of Tibet explained stressed for the need of correlated interpretation of various articles of the charter and it is not to be interpreted any article exclusively. He has further clarified that the charter does not authorise any body for impeachment of all three judges through a single motion. The Rinpoche who was also a member of the drafting committee member of the Charter termed the situation as a Constitutional Breakdown.
The speaker announced his resignation on moral grounds. However, it leaves the exile Tibetan government in a difficult situation as the general elections are due April 11, the transition of administrative power is scheduled by the end of May. The impeachment has left with no judges from whom the new President requires to take oath for assuming duty. Although a special session is planned by the TPiE in May to make necessary amendments, with speaker’s resignation, there is more confusion.
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