A bench of the Supreme Court has upheld the Registrar's decision to dismiss the writ petition filed seeking quashing of the decision to recommend Manoj Sharma's name as Chief Justice.

The bench of Justice Meghraj Pokharel decided to uphold the writ petition filed by senior advocates Dinesh Tripathi and Premraj Silwal, explaining that it had lost its merit. With this decision of the single bench, the dispute regarding the recommendation of the Chief Justice has been settled for the time being.

The Constitutional Council had recommended the name of Sharma, who was ranked fourth, breaking the tradition of recommending the person who was ranked first in the ranking as the Chief Justice. Although a writ petition was filed in the Supreme Court against this decision, the registrar refused to register it and filed a writ petition. After trying to file a petition against it in the bench, it was held for a long time. The writ petitioners had filed a complaint against it in the secretariat of Acting Chief Justice Sapna Pradhan Malla. Malla had ordered that the complaint be registered immediately, but the administration disobeyed her and registered it after Sharma took charge of the Chief Justice.

‘It appears that the petitioner has ignored the order of precedence submitted by the Judicial Council and has sought a writ of mandamus to reverse the recommendation for the appointment of the Chief Justice made by the respondent Constitutional Council on 24th Baisakh and recommend the first candidate for the appointment of the Chief Justice,’ the order states. ‘It appears that the recommendation for which the revocation was sought has been implemented and the appointment of the Chief Justice has been completed through a parliamentary hearing as per Article 292 of the Constitution of Nepal. As a result, the petitioner has changed and does not appear to have given further delay to the latest changed process.’