KATHMANDU, APRIL 19
The Supreme Court today issued a short-term stay order against the suspension of Nepal Rastra Bank Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari.
The apex court also issued a show cause notice to the government and asked both sides to present their arguments in the next hearing on April 26 when the court would decide whether or not the interim order should be issued against the suspension of Adhikari.
Adhikari had filed a writ petition at the SC on Sunday demanding his reinstatement and had challenged the government's decision to form a three-member committee to initiate a probe against him.
The Nepal Rastra Bank Act stipulates that the governor or any official of the NRB shall be automatically suspended once the government launches an investigation against them.
Adhikari argued in his petition that the government decided to form a three-member probe committee against him without proving or levelling any charge of inefficiency against him. He stated that the decision to form a three-member committee was wrong also because one of the members of the committee - former justice of SC Purushottam Bhandari - was related to Finance Minister Janardan Sharma.
The government formed the three-member probe committee blaming Adhikari for the current economic mess.
His lawyers, however, argued that Adhikari had offered suggestions to the government to overcome the crisis, but the government ignored his suggestions, leading to the current economic crisis. They also claimed that Adhikari had urged the government to control rising import, but to no avail.
Adhikari claims that finance minister's action against him was influenced by his decision to freeze the account of a business person who had sent almost Rs 400 million from the United States without any known source of income.
A single bench of Justice Hari Prasad Phuyal issued the stay order.
A version of this article appears in the print on April 20, 2022, of The Himalayan Times
