SC show cause notice to govt over ‘Service Law’

Kathmandu, September 1

The Supreme Court today issued a show cause notice in the name of Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and six government officials for not implementing its verdict regarding introduction of ‘Service Law’ to ensure the service and post-retirement benefits to non-teaching staff of community schools.

Responding to a Contempt of Court case filed by Govinda Bahadur Poudel, 62, an accountant at Bharatpur Sub-Metropolitan City-based Narayani Namuna Higher Secondary School and 10 others on August 27, a single bench of Justice Gopal Parajuli issued the show cause notice.

Along with PM, the apex court has also issued show cause notice to Education Minister Chitra Lekha Yadav and other top officials such as Chief Secretary Som Lal Subedi, Education Secretary Bishwo Prakash Pandit, joint secretaries at Ministry of Education (MoE) Dr Laba Doe Awasthi and Dr Hari Lamsal and under secretary Dharma Raj Kuikel.

The writ petitioners have demanded dismissal of PM from his post for not implementing the SC verdict and departmental action against other top officials.

The SC on February 6, 2011 had directed the MoE to ensure post-retirement benefits to non-teaching staff on par with teachers by formulating a ‘Service Law’ within six months but no progress has been made in this regard although the SC Verdict Implementation Directorate has been repeatedly reminding MoE to implement the verdict.

According to MoE report, there are around 33,000 non-teaching staffers in more than 30,000 community schools across the country.