Suspended governor Maha Prasad Adhikari has filed a petition at the Supreme Court, demanding that the finance minister’s move of forming a panel to probe him be scrapped.

“The Supreme Court has registered the petition filed by Adhikari,” said Bimal Poudel, spokesperson for the Supreme Court. “A hearing on the petition will begin on Tuesday.”

In his petition, Adhikari has demanded that the Supreme Court issue an interim order against the government and stop the ongoing probe by scrapping the panel formed to investigate him.

Adhikari faced an automatic suspension on April 8 following the government’s decision to form a panel to probe him on three charges, including non-cooperation to the government and inefficiency.

“Adhikari has demanded that the committee formed to probe him has no basis and therefore the decision should be scrapped,” said advocate Surendra Thapa, Adhikari’s lawyer. “We have also claimed that there is no basis to form the probe panel as the finance minister had been regularly holding meetings with the governor until a few days before the latter’s suspension.”

Thapa also said the governor has claimed that the panel formed by Finance Minister Janardan Sharma includes his relatives.

On April 8, the government formed a panel to look into the governor's actions, leading to Adhikari’s suspension as central bank governor. The panel led by former Supreme Court justice Purushottam Bhandari was formed after charging the governor of leaking sensitive information about the government’s decisions and not fulfilling his responsibilities effectively.

The Bhandari-led probe panel has Surya Thapa and Chandra Kanta Poudel as members. Bhandari is said to be Finance Minister Sharma’s relative.