A hearing on the case of Deputy Inspector General Nawaraj Silwal scheduled for Thursday was postponed again, citing family relations between the plaintiff and one of the justices. 

A seven-member joint bench of Supreme Court (SC) Justices Cholendra Shamsher Rana, Devendra Gopal Shrestha, Jagdeesh Sharma Poudel, Deepak Kumar Karki, Kedar Prasad Chalise, Sapana Pradhan Malla and Tej Bahadur KC was to hear the case. 

According to SC Spokesperson Mahendra Upadhyay, the hearing was postponed because DIG Silwal and Justice Shrestha are relatives. 

Earlier, hearing on the case was scheduled for May 2. But registration of an impeachment motion against Chief Justice Sushila Karki on April 30 resulted in the postponement of hearing. 

DIG Silwal has challenged the government decision of appointing Prakash Aryal as the chief of Nepal Police. 

The police chief appointment case is pending in the apex court since February 12 when Silwal first challenged a Cabinet decision of promoting Jaya Bahadur Chand to the post of inspector general. 

More than a month later, the SC on March 21 quashed the government decision altogether and ordered to pick police chief based on merit, seniority and performance, hinting that Silwal could be the right candidate for the post.

But on April 10, the government appointed Aryal as the chief of Nepal Police. DIG Silwal moved the court again.

When Silwal was arrested on charges of forging a performance evaluation report, SC ordered the government to stop action against him.

A Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist Center) coalition filed an impeachment motion against Chief Justice Sushila Karki accusing her of interfering in the jurisdiction of executive and failing to issue verdicts without being prejudiced. The motion has since been stayed by an interim order by the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice Karki, who stood suspended for five days, returned to court on May 5 after the apex court stayed the impeachment motion. She, however, has not presided over any bench since then.

In the meantime, the government had set up a panel to investigate into a charge that Silwal had forged work performance appraisal documents while presenting them to the court. The SC had ordered to halt investigation until the final hearing on the case.