The 19 Supreme Court (SC) justices boycotted benches constituted by Chief Justice (CJ) Cholendra Shumsher Rana apart from those assigned habeas corpus petitions even on Thursday.
CJ Rana constituted nine benches on Thursday including himself and 13 other justices and assigned 298 cases including four habeas corpus petition to the benches.
The single benches of Bishwambhar Shrestha and Nahakul Subedi, and joint benches of Bam Kumar Shrestha and Kumar Regmi, and Prakash Kumar Dhungana were all assigned one habeas corpus petition each on Thursday. All the benches heard the petitions.
The joint bench of Dhungana and Chudal also heard a case about death in traffic accident as it was listed for hearing before the habeas corpus petition in the cause list prepared by CJ Rana. Hearing has to be done on the order mentioned in the cause list and cannot be conducted by breaking the order.
CJ Rana had assigned six different cases to his single bench and he issued orders in all those cases.
All the SC justices have been demanding CJ Rana's resignation following controversies including picking bench in different cases including those about HoR dissolution, accusations about CJ Rana getting a share of spoils in appointments at constitutional bodies, involvement of CJ Rana in the case about the Constitutional Council, delay in the hearing of case filed making CJ Rana a defendant, and allegations about him seeking share in the Cabinet.
The justices have been boycotting hearing for all the cases except habeas corpus petitions. CJ Rana, however, has been assigning other cases to his single bench and hearing them.
The Nepal Bar Association (NBA), meanwhile, has decided to boycott all the SC benches on Friday citing use of force on agitating lawyers inside the SC premises on Thursday.
Lawyers protesting against Chief Justice (CJ) Cholendra Shumsher Rana demanding his resignation clashed with the police after the latter tried to stop them from entering the SC premises for demonstration on Thursday. NBA General Secretary Lila Mani Paudel suffered nose injury after being hit by a police baton.
The NBA, that has been agitating for 11 days demanding CJ Rana's resignation, will boycott hearing for even habeas corpus petitions.
