Kathmandu, July 22:

The Supreme Court today reopened a case related to Surya Tobacco Company (STC) Private Ltd stating that there are grounds to review a judgment the SC had passed 10 years ago.

A bench of Justices Anup Raj Sharma, Bal Ram KC and Rajendra Kumar Bhandari ordered the reopening of the case on the gronds that the verdict violated precedents set by the court.

King Gyanendra had, till some years ago, a stake in the company The SC was responding to a review petition filed by Dr Bimal Prasad Koirala, the then acting finance secretary, as per the direction of parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

The petition had cited precedents set by the apex court which were not followed by the judges in a case in which STC was accused of tax evasion.

The PAC had found that the verdict issued by a division bench of judges Hari Prasad Sharma

and Harischandra Prasad Upadhyaya had violated tax Acts.

The PAC had examined the issue based on the annual reports of then Auditor General for the fiscal years of 1991-1993 which stated that the STC had evaded Rs 135.5 million tax. The committee had directed the government to move the SC for review of the verdict