The Supreme Court on Tuesday quashed the writ petition filed by Nepal Police Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Nawaraj Silwal challenging the appointment of Prakash Aryal to the post of Inspector General of Police (IGP). The apex court decision has upheld the appointment of Aryal as Nepal Police chief. 

Earlier on Apil 11, DIG Silwal had filed the writ petition at the court a day after the government elevated Aryal to the post of IGP. 

DIG Silwal had moved the court for the second time challenging the government decision to promote DIG Prakash Aryal to the top post of Nepal police. 

DIG Silwal, in his petition, had argued that there “have been irregularities during the review of the files on work performance of four DIGs” who were contending for the IG post. 

He had claimed that the review panel deducted two points from his score sheet to promote Aryal to the post of IGP.

The government had picked Aryal as the chief of Nepal Police on April 10 from among four contenders—Aryal himself, Nawaraj Silwal, Bam Bahadur Bhandari and Jaya Bahadur Chand—after reviewing the marks accumulated by the four top officials in the last four years based on their performance, qualification, seniority and prize, among others.

DIG Silwal had earlier knocked the apex court’s door on February 12 after the government decided to promote DIG Jaya Bahadur Chand as the new IG. 

The Supreme Court on March 21 quashed the government decision to appoint Chand as the chief of Nepali Police and instructed the government to take into account seniority, merit and performance while promoting officials. 

The bench had also observed that “DIG Nawaraj Silwal has the highest marks” among the contenders.