The Supreme Court (SC) is to conduct a rehearing on a writ petition filed against the appointment of Chief (now suspended) of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) Lokman Singh Karki on coming January 5.

A full bench comprising judges Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada, Anand Mohan Bhattarai and Anil Kumar Sinha started hearing on the petition against Karki's appointment Thursday.

Advocates Balkrishna Neupane and Madhav Basnet argued in the case on behalf of Karki in today's hearing.

Following the appointment of Karki as the CIAA Chief, advocate Om Prakash Aryal moved the apex court against the appointment terming it non-constitutional.

Former Law Secretary Pramod Karki has been indicted of causing obstruction in serving the court notice at the residence of suspended CIAA Chief.

Advocates Ramesh Badal, Surendra Bhandari, Tikaram Bhattarai, Gobinda Bandi, Chantrakant Gyawali, Shambhu Thapa, Rabi Khanal, Sunil Pokhrel and Bijay Mishra presented their arguments against the Karki's appointment during the Thursday's hearing.

Meanwhile, the SC allowed the Suspended CIAA Chief and former Secretary Karki to send their representatives to the court for hearing of the cases filed against them. Onward they need not to present themselves before the court for hearing.

The suspended CIAA Chief appealed for such facility to the SC as he was smeared with soot by two people on the SC premises Thursday as he was there for hearing of the petition. RSS