Kathmandu, August 25:

The Supreme Court today issued stay order against the syndicate system enforced by the Seti-Mahakali Truck Entrepreneurs’ Association in the far-west.

A division bench of justices Ram Prasad Shrestha and Ram Kumar Prasad Shaha issued the order in response to a case filed against the system. “It is wrong to continue the syndicate system, which is against the existing law,” according to the bench.

The bench observed that such a system was against the principles of competitive market and against the Transport Management Act 1992, Consumers’ Rights Protect Act 1998 and Competition Promotion and Market Protection Act 2006.

The bench added that the second amendment to the statute of the Seti-Mahakali Truck Entrepreneurs’ Association endorsed on May 6, 2007, contradicted with the existing law and therefore the association’s statute cannot prevail.

Challenging the truckers’ syndicate system, Megh Nath Neupane had filed a petition on behalf of the Federation of the Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI).

The petitioner had sought the apex court order to the Office of the Prime Minister (PMO) and the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Labour and the Transport Management and the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies to check the situation.