Article 140 – The appointment and qualifications of the Chief Judge and Judges of the High Court

The Chief Justice shall, on the recommendation of the Judicial Council, appoint the Chief Judge and Judges of the High Court.

Any Nepali citizen who has a Bachelor’s Degree in law and has worked as a District Judge for at least five years or has practiced as a law graduate senior advocate or advocate for at least ten years ; or for at least 10 years, has either taught law or conducted research thereon or worked in any other field of law or justice or worked in any post of gazetted first class officer of the Judicial Service for a period of at least five years shall be considered eligible for appointment as Chief Judge or other Judge of the High Court.

During appointments of Chief Judge and other Judges of the High Court from among the persons meeting qualifications according to Clause (2), in case of a district judge, the appointment shall be made also on the ground of the proportion of cases decided annually by her/him and the situation of cases endorsed or overturned during final decision in the higher court, and in case of others, on the ground of examination and evaluation according to the law.

If the office of the Chief Judge becomes vacant, or the Chief Judge is unable to carry out the duties of her/his office due to any other reason, or she/he cannot be present in office due to a leave of absence or her/his being outside of the province, the senior-most Judge of the High Court shall act as the Acting Chief Judge.