SC has begun hearings on the writ petitions six months after Regmi´s appointment as the head of the Interim Election Council. Only advocate Chandra Kant Gyawali, one of the writ petitioners, pleaded before the bench on Thursday. The apex court is scheduled to conduct the next hearing on the writ petitions on October 1. [break]
A special bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Damodar Prasad Sharma and justices Kalyan Shrestha, Girish Chandra Lal, Sushila Karki, Prakash Wasti, Baidyanath Upadhyaya, Tarka Raj Bhatta, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki and Bharat Bahadur Karki presided over the hearing on the writ petitions.
Justice Ram Kumar Prasad Sah was not present in the hearing as he is currently in Thailand for treatment. Regmi was appointed chairman of the Interim Election Council on March 14 after removal of constitutional difficulties by the president.
The seven writ petitions were filed separately by advocates Gyawali, Om Prakash Aryal, Kanchan Krishna Neupane and Gopal Shiwakoti on March 14, Subhas Acharya on March 17, Chairman of Lok Kalyankari Janata Party Kishori Mahato on March 21, Amar KC of Nepal Rastriya Loktantrik Dal on April 3 and Advocate Bharat Mani Jangam on May 28.
Though the apex court was scheduled to conduct hearings on 24 writ petitions from August 1, a special bench of Acting Chief Justice Sharma and justices Sah, Shrestha, Lal, Sushila Karki, Wasti, Upadhyaya, Bhatta, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki and Bharat Bahadur Karki on July 4 had ordered hearings on the seven petitions simultaneously and on the other 17 petitions as per regular procedure.
The 17 writ petitions were filed before the formation of the Interim Election Council. The apex court on September 5 had issued an order to quash the 17 petitions on which no hearings were conducted.
The president´s office, chairman of the Interim Election Council, UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Nepali Congress (NC) President Sushil Koirala, Chairman of CPN-UML Jhala Nath Khanal and Madhesi People´s Rights Forum-Democratic Chairman Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar, among others, have been made defendants in the writ petitions.
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