Former prime minister and CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal will now have to appear in court himself.
On Monday, his lawyers had filed a petition in the Special Court seeking permission to appoint a representative on his behalf. However, the bench of Judges Tej Narayan Singh Rai and Murari Babu Shrestha rejected the request.
Nepal had sought permission to appoint a representative for court proceedings. But since the court denied the request, he will now have to appear in person.
The bench of Judges Rai and Shrestha denied Nepal’s request to appoint a representative because a prison sentence of more than three years has been demanded for Nepal in the case related to misappropriation of land belonging to Patanjali Yogpeeth.
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had filed a corruption case on June 5, seeking recovery of Rs 185.85 million and demanding a prison sentence of eight to ten years for Nepal.
The legal provision states: "In a criminal case where the government is the plaintiff, if the accused is not already in custody for an offense punishable by imprisonment of three years or less, and if circumstances beyond their control prevent them from appearing on the scheduled date, the court may permit the appointment of a representative."
However, since Nepal is accused of an offense punishable by more than three years in prison, the court did not grant permission to appoint a representative.
Nepal had appeared before the Special Court on June 25.
A bench of Judges Tej Narayan Singh Rai, Ram Bahadur Thapa, and Bidur Koiraala had ordered his release on a bail of Rs 3.5 million. He was released the same night after submitting the bail amount.