Kathmandu, October 31

The Supreme Court today stayed the government’s decision to sack General Manager of Gorkhapatra Corporation Basanta Prakash Upadhyay.

A single bench of Justice Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada issued the interim order against the government. The full text of the Supreme Court order has not been prepared yet.

The government had, on October 28,   sacked Upadhyay from service.

Earlier, the KP Sharma Oli led government had, on July 4, sacked Upadhyay and some other persons who were appointed by Sher Bahadur Deuba.

The Oli government had sacked those persons arguing that their appointment by Deuba government was illegal as the appointments were made after the election code of conduct was enforced for the civic, provincial and parliamentary elections held last year.

Upadhyay had challenged his sacking in the Supreme Court in July also, following which the apex court stayed the government’s decision on July 13.

Upadhyay’s lawyer Bikash Bhattarai said the government had sought clarification from Upadhyay before sacking him as Gorkhapatra general manager on October 28.

Bhattarai said his client had filed a case against the government arguing that the clarification letter issued to him was contemptuous as it was issued at a time when the Supreme Court had already issued an interim order against his previous dismissal.

Upadhyay was appointed as the general manager of Gorkhapatra Corporation for four years, he added.