Kathmandu, March 4:

A Supreme Court Justice today refused to hear a case challenging the black listing of Immix Trade Ltd as a loan defaulter, saying he was embroiled in a controversy when he issued a verdict in a case related with Mahalaxmi Sugar Mills.

Justice Top Bahadur Magar refused to hear the petition filed by Krishna Das Manandhar challenging black listing of his firm by the Credit Information Bureau (CIB).

“When we entered the division bench comprising Justices Magar and Damodar Prasad Sharma, the bench refused to conduct the hearing,” Rastriya Banijya Bank’s Lawyer Ramesh Karki told this daily. Justice Magar told the lawyers that he would not hear the case because he was embroiled in a controversy when he and two other justices — Kedar Prasad Giri and Badri Kumar Basnet — upheld a Supreme Court verdict issued by justices Arjun Prasad Singh and Badri Bahadur Basnet, revoking the sugar mill from the black list.

Four months ago, the Public Accounts Committee had recommended the House of Representatives to impeach the judges who had removed the sugar mills from the blacklist.

The bench was supposed to conduct a final hearing of the case.

The director of the firm had filed the petition challenging the Nepal Rastra Bank, Rastriya Banijya Bank and the CIB for blacklisting his firm as a bank defaulter.