KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court has once again deferred the hearing on the habeas corpus petition filed by Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) President and former Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane.

Despite being scheduled for Monday at the bench of Chief Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut and Justice Nityananda Pandey, the case was marked as “unable to proceed,” citing conflicts of interest.

On Sunday, the bench of Justices Manoj Kumar Sharma and Sunil Kumar Pokharel had instructed the Supreme Court administration to assign the case to a suitable bench, following a previous deferral.

Subsequently, the hearing was listed under Chief Justice Raut and Justice Pandey, who were not restricted from the case.

However, the session was postponed after it emerged that a lawyer representing Lamichhane is reportedly a close relative of Chief Justice Raut, while another lawyer representing former DIG Chhabilal Joshi—a party in the case—is related to Justice Pandey.

The Supreme Court administration has now rescheduled the hearing for Tuesday