KATHMANDU, Jan 7: As the final hearings on the review petition over the Supreme Court verdict to uphold the appointment of suspended CIAA chief Lokman Singh Karki could not conclude Friday, the Supreme Court decided to continue hearings for Sunday.
On Friday, lawyers from Karki's side concluded presenting their arguments and claimed that Karki is eligible for the post of CIAA chief. Senior Advocates Badri Bahadur Karki, Yagya Murti Banjade and advocates Deependra Jha and Krishna Sapkota argued that the court should scrap its decision to review the case claiming the case was reopened citing a wrong precedent.
Earlier senior advocates Sushil Panta, Baburam Kunwar, Mahadev Yadav, Bal Krishna Neupane and Surendra Mahato had made similar arguments during the hearings.
Karki-related SC hearings to conclude Friday
Meanwhile, advocate Dinmani Pokharel argued that it was not necessary to name Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the coordinator of the high-level political mechanism at the time of Karki's appointment, as defendant since the decision to appoint Karki was taken after removing constitutional difficulties.
In a contempt of court case against Karki, his son-in-law Prabal Thapa, relative Pramod Karki, staff at Kathmandu Metropolitan City Sarita Rai and Nepal Police ASI Nakul Gautam for obstructing the process of submitting court notice to Karki, lawyers from the defendants' side claimed that their clients didn't obstruct the process and helped the court instead by giving true information.
As all the lawyers in Karki's defense concluded their deliberations on Friday, the full bench of Justices Ishwar Khatiwada, Dr Aananda Mohan Bhattarai and Anil Sinha, which is hearing the cases continuously, asked the plaintiff's side to present their arguments on Sunday.
The Supreme Court on September 17 decided to revisit its previous verdict on the writ petition challenging Karki's appointment as CIAA chief. Advocate Om Prakash Aryal had filed two writ petitions in May, 2014 -- one demanding a court order to stop the government from appointing Karki as CIAA chief, and a subsequent one demanding annulment of the appointment decision.
The division bench of Justices Gopal Parajuli and Om Prakash Mishra had quashed both the writ petitions on September 24, 2014. Advocate Aryal then filed a review petition, to which the apex court gave its nod.
