Kathmandu, April 23

The Supreme Court today issued a show cause notice to the government for allowing a foreign company to print digital driving licenses.

The apex court also ordered the government to keep its deal with Indian’s Chennai-based Madras Security Printers Pvt Ltd in status quo until the next hearing when both sides would present their arguments on whether or not an interim order should be issued in the case.

A single bench of Justice Deepak Raj Joshi issued the order in a writ petition filed by Advocate Bhakti Ram Ghimire. Ghimire had filed a petition, saying that the government had provided data of 140,000 Nepali driving license holders to the company which was a violation of citizens’ right to privacy. The petitioner also urged the court to order the government take the data back from India’s Chennai-based company. The petitioner has named Department of Transport Management, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Council of Ministers as defendants, among others.