Kathmandu, July 13

The Supreme Court today stayed the KP Sharma Oli government’s decision to sack four officials appointed by the Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government.

A single bench of Justice Bam Kumar Shrestha stayed the government’s decision to sack Executive Director of Cottage and Small Industries Development Navin Kumar Jha, Chairman of High Powered Committee for Integrated Development of the Bagmati Civilisation Narendra Raj Basnet, General Manager of Gorkhapatra Sansthan Basanta Prakash Upadhyay and Co-Chair of Nepal Cooperatives Development Board Daksha Paudel Suwas.

The SC issued the interim order till further hearing in response to the petition filed against the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and others.

The SC ordered both sides to present their arguments in the next hearing when it decides whether or not the stay order issued today should continue. The next hearing of the case has been scheduled for July 31.

Yesterday, the SC had stayed the government’s decision to sack Chief Executive Chairperson of Deposit Credit Guarantee Fund Bishnubabu Mishra and Chairperson of Nepal Telecom Authority Digambar Jha.

Lawyers representing petitioners Navin Kumar Jha, Narendra Raj Basnet, Basanta Prakash Upadhyay and Daksha Paudel urged the court to issue stay order as the SC had already issued an interim order in two cases with similar case details yesterday.

KP Sharma Oli-led government had decided on July 4 to rescind the appointments made by the Deuba government in government entities after August 30.

The government said it rescinded the previous government’s decision to make appointments in government institutions because those appointments were made after the election code was enforced. Nepali Congress leaders, however, termed the Oli government’s decision wrong, saying the Deuba government had made those appointments only after seeking permission from the Election Commission.

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