The Transitional Justice (TJ) bodies are likely to be left without any commissioners, at least for a certain period after mid-April, given the Government’s delay in forming a recommendations committee as provisioned by law, reports My Republica on March 16. It is mandatory to form a five-member recommendations committee headed by a former chief justice, in order to appoint members of the TJ bodies. But the Government has not formed the committee so far although less than a month remains for the expiry of existing terms. Former members of the recommendations committee and the conflict victims say the recommendations process may take at least a month even if the committee is formed right away. The appointment process will get prolonged further if the parties fail to agree on the names recommended by the committee. The recommendations committee headed by former chief justice Om Bhakta Shrestha and formed in September 2013 took six months to conduct the consultations process and prepared a roster of prospective candidates. “Once the committee is formed it has to follow certain international norms such as mandatory consultations with the victims, the stakeholders and the political parties. It will surely take at least one or one and half months to complete this process,” said Pradip Pokharel, a former member of the recommendations committee, “It seems the leadership vacuum at the commissions will remain even if the appointment process is started right away.”