Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, June 1:

The Supreme Court today refused to issue a stay order to the government to allow the FM radios to resume news broadcast.

Citing the apex court’s previous order issued after the imposition of the state of Emergency that denied issuing a stay order with regard to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by journalist Binod Dhungel, the bench today once again said there was no need to issue a stay order to the authorities to allow the resumption of FM news broadcast.

A division bench of justices Ram Prasad Shrestha and Arjun Prasad Singh refused to issue the stay order following today’s hearing. The bench gave the order in response to the PIL filed by advocate Madhav Kumar Basnet on May 24, citing the lifting of the state of Emergency. “Since the state of Emergency has been lifted, the restrictions on FMs should also be removed,” the petitioner had claimed.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court today ordered the government authorities to attend the apex court on Friday to discuss whether or not to issue a stay order against the Ministry of Information and Communications’ notice to the Communication Corner Private Limited (CCPL) to shut down its service.

A single bench of Justice Khil Raj Regmi issued the order.