KATHMANDU: The final hearing on the writs filed against the appointment of DIG Jaya Bahadur Chand to the position of Nepal Police IG would continue on Monday as well.

Lawyers advocating for the petitioners--advocate Kapil Dev Dhakal and DIG Nawa Raj Silwal--recorded their statements today whereas those representing the defendants--the government and DIG Chand--would argue on Monday.

The full bench comprising Chief Justice Sushila Karki and justices Hari Krishna Karki, Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada, Ananda Mohan Bhattarai and Anil Kumar Sinha is conducting the hearing on the writs filed by Dhakal and Silwal.

A division bench of Justice duo Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada and Tej Bahadur KC had passed the case to the full bench considering the seriousness of the issue on Thursday.

The government on February 12 had appointed Chand to the post of Nepal Police Chief.

The Court, however, had stayed the decision after it was moved against the appointment claiming the decision violated the tradition of seniority.

Advocate Kapil Dev Dhakal had filed the case.

The next day, the Court had again barred Chand from assuming office in response to another writ filed by his batchmate DIG Nawa Raj Silwal.

Silwal had claimed that he was the most senior among four DIGs eligible for the top post and therefore, he should have been appointed.

Hearing on both the writs had begun on February 22.

Concluding rounds of the hearing, the Court on March 1 had ordered that the stay orders issued earlier would continue till the final verdict.

Haven't boycotted the bench, says AG

Meanwhile, Attorney General Raman Kumar Shrestha refuted media reports that he boycotted the full bench hearing the case.

Shrestha said he had sent other government attorneys from his office to defend the government decision.

The legal advisor to the government, however, expressed dissatisfaction over the Chief Justice's decision regarding formation of the bench.

"The justices for the full bench should have been selected on the merit basis," he told THT Online, arguing that the justice involved in issuing an order on the same case should not have been repeated in the full bench as well.

Justice Hari Krishna Karki was a part of the two-member division bench, which on March 1 had ordered that two previous stay orders issued on the case should continue till the final verdict.