Court proceedings were affected also on Monday as government attorneys refused to attend the scheduled hearings all across the country.

The Judicial Council (JC) and the government attorneys are in a standoff over appointment of High Court judges, both sticking to their position since past week. An estimated 500 hearings were affected as the lawyers remained absent from the court.

“It seems the JC is not concerned about our demands,” said Sanjiv Kumar Regmi, joint attorney general and secretary of the Government Lawyer Society. “We will continue boycotting the bench until our concerns are addressed.”

The protesters—government attorneys and trade unions under the Office of the Attorney General (OAG)—have refused to defend the cases on behalf of the JC in all 75 district courts, seven High Courts and their benches, Special Court and Foreign Employment Tribunal.

The government attorneys are up in the arms after only one out of 35 senior officials was picked by the JC for the posts.

The JC, however, has been claiming to have appointed four judges from among government attorneys.

The JC counts two additional judges and one secretary in the group, while the protesters say they do not belong to the group of government lawyers.

“Government attorneys are responsible people,” said Ajay Shankar Nayak, Law Minister and JC member. “All we can do is request them to come to the table to resolve the issues. We cannot ensure additional quotas for judges.”

The JC, headed by Chief Justice Sushila Karki, on January 12 recommended 80 names for High Court judges who have already taken their oath of office and secrecy. Of them, six were appointed from Judicial Group, four from Law Ministry and 1 from among government lawyers.