Kathmandu, September 8

The Supreme Court today paved way for the elective general assembly of Nepal Olympic Committee.

The division bench of justices Tej Bahadur KC and Manoj Kumar Sharma vacated the Supreme Court’s interim order to stop the elections after the SC-reinstated NOC executive committee member Kamal Bahadur Chitrakar filed writ petition claiming the committee headed by Jeevan Ram Shrestha was not the authentic one. The court passed the fresh order after hearing arguments from both the parties.

The NOC had postponed the assembly, scheduled for September 6, indefinitely after the court orders. The single bench of justice Tanka Bahadur Moktan had on September 3 issued interim order against the NOC to stop the assembly and asked both the parties to be present before the court for further discussion to find the way out on the issue.

NOC President Shrestha said he would now inform the International Olympic Committee and Olympic Council of Asia about the recent developments before announcing the new dates. “As we need representatives from international bodies for the elective general assembly, we will seek their availability before announcing the new dates,” said Shrestha.

A total of 26 General Assembly representatives have filed their candidacy for 19 positions. President Shrestha and former vice-president Umesh Lal Shrestha are set to face each other for the second time for the top position, while Nilendra Raj Shrestha and Purendra Bikram Lakhe are up for the post of Secretary General.

While eight representatives have filed their candidacies for the post of five vice-presidents, Treasurer Ratan Tandan and Deputy Secretary General Pitamber Timsina have been elected unopposed. Likewise, four candidates are in the race for three secretaries and eight representatives have filed nominations for seven members.

The NOC controversy dates back to 2008 after the Supreme Court reinstated the committee led by Rukma Shumsher Rana responding to the writ filed by a couple of officials who faced defeats in the 2007 elections.