KATHMANDU: The Wednesday’s hearing at the apex court has been delayed after the legal practitioners raised concern over the  post of acting chief justice as Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana is hospitalized due to COVID-19 infection.

According to SC sources, the judges sat down to discuss the issue of acting chief justice after legal practitioners questioned their responsibilities.

President of the Nepal Bar Association, Senior Advocate Chandeshwar Shrestha, reiterated that the legal proceedings in the court could not be taken ahead unless the name of the acting chief justice was declared.

Chief Justice Rana has been admitted to the Armed Police Hospital in Balambu since Monday after testing coronavirus positive. The chief justice has not taken leave despite being in hospital. He had been assigning cases to the benches till Tuesday.

For the first time in the apex court history, lottery system was used to assign cases to benches on Wednesday.

Justice Deepak Kumar Karki is the senior judge in absence of Chief Justice; however, he could not take the responsibility of active chief justice as Chief Justice Rana has not taken leave despite being in hospital.

Eleven benches, including two single benches, have been fixed on the first day the cases were assigned via lottery system. Judges Meera Khadka and Kumar Chudal have been assigned a single bench each.