THT 10 YEARS AGO: Apex court reopens House revival plea

Kathmandu, August 25, 2005

KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court today reopened the review petition seeking the reinstatement of the dissolved House of Representatives which has been pending for the last three years. Chief Justice Dilip Kumar Paudel formed an 11-member bench this morning to decide whether or not to have a full hearing on the petition. The bench comprises Justices Kedar Prasad Giri, Min Bahadur Rayamajhi, Ram Nagina Singh, Anup Raj Sharma, Ram Prasad Shrestha, Khil Raj Regmi, Sharada Prasad Pundit, Shrarada Shrestha, Arjun Prasad Singh and Hari Jung Sijapati, besides Chief Justice Paudel. It may be recalled that an 11- member bench including Paudel had upheld the dissolution of the House by the King as per the recommendation of the then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba three and a-half-year ago. Barring Chief Justice Paudel, all judges on the new bench have been assigned to the case for the first time. “We have discussed the case and have agreed to study thoroughly the previous dissolution on the recommendations of former prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Manamohan Adhikary,” a judge on the new bench told The Himalayan Times. They will hold another discussion soon as they could not arrive at any decision today. He added that if the bench found any ground to change the three-year-old verdict that upheld Sher Bahadur Deuba’s recommendation to dissolve the House they would begin full hearing on the petition.

No let-up in petroleum price hike protests

DHANGADHI/KATHMANDU: Over ten students were hurt today when policemen rained batons on students who were staging a rally against the government decision to hike the price of petroleum products, a report from Dhangadhi said. Eight student unions had organised the rally. A member of the All Nepal National Free Students’ Union (United), Baburam Acharya, was among the injured in the police action. In Kathmandu, the agitating students obstructed roads in front of valley campuses today, chanted slogans against the price hike, and clashed with policemen in front of the Bishwo Bhasham Campus, Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus, and the Nepal Law Campus. Thakur Gaire, the general secretary of the ANNFSU, said the movement would continue unless the government rescinded the decision to hike the price of petroleum products. In the morning, the police fired nine shells of tear gas to disperse the students, who had gathered in front of the Bishwo Bhasha Campus. The students burnt tyres, chanted slogans, and stoned the policemen. However, no one was hurt during the clashes. The students took out a rally from Patan Multiple Campus in the afternoon against the price hike.