Nainital, March 29 -- The Uttarakhand High Court has directed the state government to appoint outgoing Chamoli District Panchayat President Rajni Bhandari as administrator and submit a compliance report by 1 April. The directive was issued today during a hearing of a special appeal filed by Rajni Bhandari against the government's decision not to appoint her as administrator.

In her appeal, Bhandari argued that, while the tenure of district panchayats has ended, the government has appointed all outgoing presidents as administrators except her. In response, the government cited a court case in the High Court pending in her case as the reason for her exclusion. In her counter arguments, Bhandari contended that she had been reinstated follow...