KATHMANDU, JUNE 30
The Supreme Court has stayed the government's decision to amend standard on excavation and sale of stones, sand, and pebbles.
A division bench of justices Kumar Regmi and Hari Prasad Phuyal today decided to continue the interim order asking the government to not implement its decision to revise the standard on excavation of stones, sand and pebbles and its sale and distribution.
Although the latest version of the standard is yet to be fully implemented, the amendment mentioned in it has the strength to pose serious threat to the existence of river system and issues related to national life, thereby causing irreparable loss, the court argued.
The amended standard on excavation would cause irreparable loss to human settlement, international border, heritages of cultural and religious importance, marshland, and educational and health institutions.
On behalf of Environment Law Society Nepal, advocate Padam Bahadur Shrestha had filed a writ petition against the amendment of the standard on excavation of sand, pebbles and stones making defendants the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers.
He had argued that the amendment had started taking the excavation close to human settlements, forest areas and highways.
A version of this article appears in the print on July 1, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
