Hearing on writ petitions filed against promotion of Jai Bahadur Chand to the post of IGP of Nepal Police will continue on Tuesday after it did not finish by even on Thursday.

A division bench of justices Hari Krishna Karki and Ishwor Khatiwada had started hearing both the sides related to the two writ petitions from Wednesday.

Kapil Dev Dhakal had filed an anticipatory writ petition on Friday 10 to block the imminent appointment of Chand as the IGP but the government appointed Chand as the 25th IGP of Nepal Police even before the petition could be heard. Another contender in the race for IGP, DIG Silwal, had moved the court after Chand’s appointment.

Advocate Baburam Kunwar, Meghraj Pokharel and others pleaded on behalf of DIG Silwal in the petition filed by him. Similarly, Attorney General Raman Kumar Shrestha, Durga Bandhu Pokharel, Khagaraj Poudel and Rewati Tripathi defended the government’s decision to appoint Chand as IGP.

The hearing scheduled for Sunday was deferred for Wednesday when the Attorney General Raman Shrestha, at the start of hearing, told the court that he is not aware about supplementary application. The attorney general, as the person who defends the government, needs to be informed about the application.

The government had promoted the third-ranked contender among the quartet of DIGs–Silwal, Prakash Aryal, Chand, and Bam Bahadur Bhandari–all of whom were in contention for the top job. Silwal and Prakash Aryal were ranked ahead of Chand but Chand prevailed in the race due to the unflinching backing of Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba.

The single bench of Chief Justice Sushila Karki hearing a writ petition filed by advocate Dhakal had ordered the government not to implement the cabinet’s decision just a few hours after Chand’s appointment. She again issued the same instruction the following day hearing a petition field by Silwal.