Kathmandu, March 16
The full bench of Nepal’s Supreme Court will now hear a case related to the appointment of the country’s police chief.
The case was referred to the full bench by Justices Iswari Prasad Khatiwada and Tejbahadur KC. The full bench will now hear the case on Sunday.
The court has also ordered the Ministry of Home Affairs, Public Service Commission and Police HQ to submit papers related to the performance appraisal of the pool of DIGs from which an IG was to be picked.
The government decided to appoint DIG Jaya Bahadur Chand as the new police chief on February 12, just three days after a Cabinet meeting was put off following a dispute in the ruling coalition.
Chand was to succeed IGP Upendrakanta Aryal, who has already retired. While Prime Minister Prachanda was in favour of the senior-most DIG Navaraj Silwal, Nepali Congress chief wanted Chand, the third senior-most officer in the ranks to be appointed to the post.
Silwal had moved the Supreme Court the same day Chand was appointed to the post, and the court had issued a stay on Chand’s appointment within a few hours.
According to a source, Deuba had instructed Home Minister Bimalendra Nidhi to tender his resignation if the Prime Minister did not yield to his demand. The Prime Minister had reportedly suggested that the second senior-most Prakash Aryal could be a compromise candidate for the job. Deuba, however, was adamant that Chand, who hails from Far-west Nepal (the NC chief’s constituency) be named Aryal’s successor.
