A meeting of top leaders of the five ruling coalition partners on Thursday decided to suggest to Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana to depute the acting chief justice at the Supreme Court.

Rana has been receiving treatment for Covid-19 at a Kathmandu hospital since Monday. The embattled chief justice who has been facing pressure to resign, however, has not handed over charge to the senior most justice of the Supreme Court.

"Today's meeting has decided that we should advise the chief justice to go on leave and let the senior most justice take charge of the Supreme Court,” said Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, spokesperson of the government, after the meeting.

Though the raffle system came into force on Wednesday, all hearings could not take place after lawyers demanded to know who the acting chief justice was.

Thursday’s meeting was attended by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, Chairman of Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Chairman of CPN (Unified Socialist) Madhav Kumar Nepal, Chairperson of Janata Samajbadi Party Upendra Yadav and Durga Poudel, vice-chair of Rastriya Janamorcha.

As per the tradition, the senior most justice takes the charge of the Supreme Court in the absence of the chief justice. Deepak Kumar Karki is the senior most justice of the Supreme Court.