KATHMANDU, OCTOBER 12

The hearing of the writ filed in Patan High Court has been postponed, on the ground that the private houses built on the underground tunnel to drain Tukucha underground in Hattisar area were demolished by Kathmandu Metropolitan Municipality against the law.

Registrar Thagindra Kattel informed that hearing of the writ before the bench of Judge Tek Prasad Dhungana and Bimal Subedi has been moved to October 18. According to him, the hearing was postponed because a certified copy of a report was not received from the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation.

Earlier, the court had asked for a certified copy of the report submitted by the taskforce led by Janakraj Joshi, joint secretary of the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation. But it has been said in the court order that the hearing regarding the interim order discussion could not be held as there was no correspondence of the same.

The court has said that the date of October 18 for discussion regarding the interim order will be fixed and necessary documents will be submitted thereafter. The short-term interim order issued by the court has also been extended till October 18.

In the beginning of August, the metropolis had written a letter to the Survey Department asking them to draw the Tukucha khola. After that, the department informed about the proposal of the metropolis to Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation Ministry.

The ministry then formed a committee to study the matter under the coordination of Joint Secretary Janakraj Joshi. The committee reached two main conclusions and submitted a report to the ministry. There is no map of Tukucha at that place, adding, 'What cannot be seen on the map cannot be drawn.'

It is mentioned in the report of Joshi's working group that the law itself had not given them the right to draw the map like that.

Joshi also told The Himalayan Times the taskforce suggested that a committee consisting of representatives of the relevant agencies should be formed and the process should be carried out on the basis of findings of the study.

Patan High Court has ordered withdrawal of this report of the ministry.

The court has also asked the Bagmati Civilization Integrated Development Committee to submit a certified copy of the standards for construction in the municipalities and urban-oriented boroughs within Kathmandu valley, including the amendment issued by the Government of Nepal (Council of Ministers) 2007, on 16 November 2008, within three days.

Earlier, Patan High Court had heard the arguments of both sides and given a shortterm interim order not to demolish the houses built on the underground tunnel of Tukucha until further order.

More than 21 house owners, including Sharda Manandhar and Kiran Sakh of Hattisar area had filed separate writs against the campaign of running dozers on Tukucha by the metropolis.

They have filed a writ saying that the metropolis suddenly ran a dozer on their private property which they had bought from different people, built a house after getting a map passed from the metropolis, and registered the surveyor years ago.

In the first hearing on this writ, Patan High Court had asked for the whole file, including the decision of the metropolis to excavate Tukucha and the report prepared by the taskforce of the Ministry of Land Reforms following the request of the metropolis.

At the end of August, Kathmandu Metropolitan City excavated the Tukucha tunnel and ran a dozer at Hattisar area to bring it to the surface.

The houses built on the mounds were also demolished by bulldozers of the metropolis.

A version of this article appears in the print on October 13, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.