HEARING ON APPOINT OF CHIEF JUSTICE KHIL RAJ REGMI REFERRED TO SPECIALBENCH OF SUPREME COURT Kathmandu, 5 March: A single bench of supreme court justice Girish Chandra Lal Tuesday referred for hearing a writ filed by Advocate Om Prakash Aryal to a special bench saying serious constitutional issues were raised. The special bench will conduct a hearing 14 March. The bench also asked defendants to furnish clarifications to court by 13 March. The Office of the President, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, PM’s Office, Ministry of Law, Justice, Constituent Assembly and Federal Affairs, the Judicial Council, the UCPN-Maoist and Assistant Spokesperson of the Supreme Court are the defendants. Aryal says formation of an election government headed by Chief Justice KHil Raj Regmi will be unconstitutional and against the principle of separation of powers. The apex court has issued another writ filed Advocate Bharat Mani Jangum to a special bench. Hearing is scheduled for Thursday 7 March. The cases could delay any efforts to form a Regmi government. Some parties are attempting to assemble a successor government of Prime Minister Bhattarai even with the writs under discussion at the supreme court. nnnn HUMLA BANDH WITHDRAWN Kathmandu, 5 March: The bandh or general strike enforced in the Humla district headquarters since the past five days has been called off this [Tuesday] Afternoon, RSS reports from Humla. The strike was withdrawn following an agreement reached for the same at an all-sides meeting convened at the initiative of Humla Chamber of Commerce and Industries, according to Chamber President Nar Bahadur Rokaya. The bandh was called by the Nepali Congress Humla in protest against the cabinet decision to shift the Western Higher Hills Poverty Alleviation Fund from Humla to Jumla. nnnn