Kathmandu, March 4:

The Supreme Court today refused to vacate its

stay order against the government decision to withdraw 349 cases against several people.

The government had moved the SC to vacate the apex court’s January 1 stay order. “There is no need to issue a order whether or not to vacate the stay order, as the case would be considered for full-fledged hearing soon,” said a division bench of justices Anup Raj Sharma and Mohan Prakash Sitaula.

The bench said that all written replies from all defendants in the case had already been gathered and the SC would soon conduct a final hearing on the case. The bench has scheduled final hearing in the case on March 16.

The apex court had stayed the government decision to withdraw the cases, stating that the government did not have the power to withdraw criminal cases in the name of political cases. The bench also said decision to withdraw criminal cases had promoted impunity.

The government, however, requested the SC to vacate the order as it had decided to withdraw the cases as per the Comprehensive Peace Accord and the Interim Constitution.

On October 27, the government had decided to withdraw 349 cases, among them 91 were murder cases, 44 robbery cases, 38 theft cases, 32 arson and 31 attempts to murder cases from several courts across the country. Challenging the decision, advocate Madhav Basnet had moved the apex court.