KATHMANDU, JUNE 18

The Supreme Court today stayed the government's decision to sell riverine materials from the Chure range and issued a show cause notice to the government.

A five-member constitutional bench led by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana issued the order in response to writ petitions filed separately by Senior Advocate Dinesh Tripathi and advocates Shailendra Prasad Ambedkar, Ram Bahadur Shahi, Punya Prasad Khatiwada, Hariram Labaju, Atish Karki, and Bikram Nagarkoti against the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and others.

The bench asked defendants to submit written response within seven days.

The court observed that in the absence of a law governing the process of the use of the country's natural resources, the government introduced a policy in the budget ordinance to use riverine materials. Stating that since issuing ordinance at a time when there is no urgency for it could lead to interference in the work of legislature, it stayed the implementation of point number 199 of the budget ordinance until the final judgment in the case. Point number 199 of the budget ordinance states that the government will, on the basis of environmental assessments, allow export of river materials to bridge trade deficit and will waive customs duty to import materials for the construction of ropeway from the river site to the industrial points.

The bench quoted articles 30 (1) and 51 (g) of the constitution in its order to issue the interim order against the government's plan to sell river materials from Chure range. Article 30 guarantees the right to clean environment and Article 51 (g) stipulates that there should be sustainable use of natural resources in the country in consonance with national interests.

The government had announced in the new fiscal budget that it would sell riverine materials from Chure range to bridge trade deficit.

Province 2 government, and opposition parties, including the five-party alliance, had also condemned the government's decision to sell riverine materials, saying that such activities could cause landslides in the catchment area and lead to desertification of the Tarai areas. They also said the government's decision to sell riverine materials was akin to someone's decision to burn his/her house to sell its ashes to others.

Advocate Ambedkar stated in his petition that extraction of riverine materials had increased in the Chure range after the government announced its plan to sell riverine materials, such as stones, aggregates, and sand.

He argued that if riverine materials were allowed to be sold to reduce trade deficit as argued by the government, it could lead to environmental degradation and soil erosion in the Chure range that could cause floods and desertification in the Tarai region and such an environmental disaster could not be reversed.

Ambedkar urged the court to direct the government to effectively implement President Chure Conservation Project, a national pride project aimed at preserving the Chure range and conserving the geographic stretch from further degradation. A version of this article appears in the print on June 19, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.