By Our Reporter imagesPrime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and chairman of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) Lokman Singh Karki, who were in a row regarding a writ filed against Karki in the Supreme Court had reportedly reach an understanding. This was revealed by Prime Minsiter Dahal during a meeting of his party. When the Supreme Court decided to move ahead the writ filed against Karki, the latter has been threatening to take action against the Maoist leaders for their alleged involvement in the misappropriation of a huge amount of budget allocated for the Maoist combatants, also known as people’s liberation army (PLAs). The Maoists leaders were accused of misusing billions of rupees allocated for the PLAs. Some civil society leaders and a few leaders of the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML had also raised the issue in the past. When the Supreme Court decided to revive Karki’s case and asked the government to produce the file relating to his appointment as the CIAA chief in 2013, the CIAA chief hinted at starting investigation into the misuse of PLAs’ fund in a bid to exert pressure on Prime Minister not to move the case ahead. However, the government did not provide the file to the SC stating that the file went missing in the earthquake last year. Some weeklies even reported that Prime Minister Dahal had to agree to issue the controversial 25-point joint statement in New Delhi during his India visit last month due to Karki’s fear because Karki is said to be close to the Indian leaders. Though the news report was not worth believing, Karki and Dahal feared each other which was evident from their latest statements and activities. While Karki  prepared to fly to Canada after the SC started process to move his case, Prime Minister Dahal had to tell his party leaders that he had convinced Karki not to initiate investigation into the money distributed to the PLAs, and Chief Justice Sushila Karki not to move ahead the case. What Dahal was reported to have said clearly suggested that the constitutional bodies in Nepal, including  the SC, do not function independently.  It was a mockery of law that the CIAA, whose head himself was appointed without meeting the criteria, resorted to the game of ‘give and ‘take’  instead of investigating into the case relating to the PLAs’ fund while the executive head instructed the judiciary head to invalidate a genuine case. How can the PM in a democracy reach an understanding to avoid action against him and annul a case filed in the Supreme Court? At the time of Karki’s appointment as CIAA chair, there were news reports that the major parties agreed to appoint him as CIAA boss only to avoid corruption charges against them. Dahal feared the misuse of PLAs’ fund while NC and UML leaders feared the Sudan Scam of Nepal Police.   But now both the cases have been revived.