KATHMANDU, MAY 16

The Supreme Court has issued a short-term interim order not to implement the decision to grant relief of Rs 200,000 to each of the over 4,000 unverified ex-Maoist combatants.

Today, the single bench of Supreme Court Justice Kumar Regmi ordered that the decision to give money to former disqualified fighters should not be implemented immediately.

Hearing the writ filed by Gyanendra Aran today, Judge Regmi issued a short-term interim order not to implement the procedures issued by the government for the time being. Judge Regmi also issued a show cause notice and decided to call both the parties for discussion on 22 May for an interim order. Spokesperson for the Supreme Court Bimal Paudel told THT that he had issued a shortterm interim order not to immediately implement the decision to give relief to each unverified combatants with Rs 200,000.

Amid the financial crisis, the government led by Maoist Centre Chair and PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal had prepared a procedure to give Rs 200,000 each to the former unverified combatants.

In the procedure, there was a provision that they would deposit Rs 200,000 into their bank accounts.

There are altogether 4,008 disqualified combatants.

Earlier, an attempt was made by the SC to stop such payment after the Baburam Bhattarai-led government decided to provide Rs 200,000 each to the disqualified Maoist fighters.

Every district has a committee to vet and send the names of rejected combatants to the home ministry. With the ministry's approval, the distribution of the money begins. A Cabinet meeting on March 20 had decided to provide cash relief to disqualified members of the Maoist fighting force. After severe criticism from the ruling parties, Prime Minister Dahal had argued that there was no such plan to give money to disqualified and unverified combatants.

If the decision is executed, the state will have to bear around Rs 800 million.

Among the 4,008 combatants rejected for integration, 2,973 were minors, while 1,035 were recruited after the first ceasefire of 26 May 2006 - just six months before the peace agreement was signed. Of the around 19,000 Maoist fighters who qualified for integration, only around 1,400 chose to join the Nepali Army and the rest preferred voluntary retirement. The government gave between Rs 500,000 and Rs 800,000 each to those who chose voluntary retirement.

A version of this article appears in the print on May 17, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.