Petitioners have complained that despite Acting Chief Justice Sapana Pradhan Malla’s order to register applications challenging the rejection of petitions against the recommendation for chief justice, the officials responsible for registration had left their offices.
Petitioner and advocate Prem Raj Silwal said that after learning of the acting chief justice’s order, he went to meet the officials concerned to complete the registration process but could not find them at their desks.
Acting Chief Justice Malla had ordered Chief Registrar Bimal Paudel to register applications filed against the rejection of petitions related to the recommendation of Manoj Kumar Sharma as chief justice.
“We met Acting Chief Justice Malla. She said that she had ordered the registration to be completed by 1 p.m., but the applications still have not been registered downstairs,” Silwal said. “Even when we went to inquire, the chief registrar and registrars were moving around saying they had meetings.”
According to him, Chief Registrar Paudel and Registrar Man Bahadur Karki, who oversees the case division, were not present in their offices.
Silwal said that the continued refusal to register the applications had caused hardship for the petitioners.
“Even though there was an order to complete the registration by 1 p.m., it has not been done,” he said. “If they do not want to register it, they should just say so. But we have been coming every day. It has been distressing.”
Advocate Gita Thapa also went to the Supreme Court to check whether her application had been registered.
She said that after hearing about the acting chief justice’s order, she went to meet the chief registrar and registrar but could not find either of them.
According to staff at the acting chief justice’s secretariat, when they went to deliver the order, the chief registrar was not in his office.
“The chief registrar had gone to a meeting. But his personal assistant informed us that he had not come due to illness,” a staff member said. “The registrar could not be found either, so we have also ordered the writ registration branch.”
The acting chief justice is reportedly discussing the next steps with other Supreme Court justices.
Representatives of the Nepal Bar Association and other lawyers have also held discussions with Malla regarding the matter.
