| Parmanand Jha परमानन्द झा |
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| 1st Vice President of Nepal | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 23 July 2008 |
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| President | Ram Baran Yadav |
| Preceded by | Office created |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1944 Darbhanga, Bihar, India |
| Nepal | |||||
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| Political history · Constitution
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| President Ram Baran Yadav |
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| Vice President Parmanand Jha |
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| Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai |
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| Council of Ministers (List)
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| Election Commission Constituent Assembly: 2008 Presidential: 2008 |
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Parmanand Jha (Nepali: परमानन्द झा) (born 1944) is the current Vice President of Nepal and a former Supreme Court judge. He was born and brought up in Darbhanga, Bihar, India.[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 and became a member of the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum.[2] On 19 July 2008, he was elected the 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]
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He took his tenure on 23 July[5] after taking the oath of the office of the Vice President from President Ram Baran Yadav at Shital Niwaas.[6] Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, among others, was also present.
He came into controversy after he took the oath of office and secrecy in Hindi,[7] which is the mother tongue of less than 1% of the Nepali population , but a language spoken as second or third language by majority. This led to a widespread agitation throughout the country.[7][8][9] The media gave a good coverage to this.[10][11][12] 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,[8] leaders of Jha's party came up with a view that this act was permissible.[13]
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.[7][14] 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[15][16]
Even after a deadline of 7 days,[17] V. P. Jha had been ignoring the court's order for his written clarification[18] but he once expressed regret[19] via a statement clarifying that his taking oath in Hindi language was not to pinch at sentiments of any Nepali citizen.[20][21] 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 24 July 2009 after the court concluded that taking oath in Hindi language is not constitutional as per prevailing laws of Nepal.[22]
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.[23]’ Some news sources also reported that VP Jha was speaking in Nepali while he claimed that he 'politically' does not understand Nepali language.[24][25]
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 30 August 2009.[26]
Paramananda Jha's position as the Vice President became defunct from 31 August 2009, with his refusal to take oath in Nepali. According to the Supreme Court's verdict, Jha could not perform any duties in capacity of the VP and was not entitled to special security and privileges given to him as the VP.[27] Jha was then in a situation where he had been elected as the VP by the parliament, but hadn'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.
After six months off duty, Vice President's post was reactivated from 7 February 2010, after he took a fresh oath of office and secrecy.[28] It was speculated that there would be no protests against his oath that 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.[28]
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