Kathmandu, September 5

The Nepal Olympic Committee today postponed its elective general assembly indefinitely following the order from Supreme Court.

The apex court had on Tuesday issued the interim order against the NOC to stop elective general assembly, scheduled for Friday, while reacting to the writ petition filed by SC-reinstated NOC executive committee member Kamal Bahadur Chitrakar.

Justice Tanka Bahadur Moktan issued the order and asked both the parties to be present before the court on September 8 for further discussion and find the way out on the issue. The election committee, headed by senior advocate Lok Bhakta Rana, postponed the elections indefinitely.

NOC President Jeevan Ram Shrestha said the committee had no option to postpone the elections. “We got the court orders yesterday and we decided to postpone the elective general assembly for now,” said Shrestha. “The writ petitioner has deceived the court by submitting the only documents which were in his favour. The case has nothing to do with our committee. We will submit our papers to the court on Sunday and will move forward as per the decision of the apex court.”

The NOC had already finalised the election procedures and a total of 26 General Assembly representatives have filed their candidacy for 19 positions. Sitting President Shrestha and Umesh Lal Shrestha were to face each other for the second time for the top position, while Nilendra Raj Shrestha and Purendra Bikram Lakhe were up for the post of Secretary General.

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

In its order, the Supreme Court has asked two defendants to submit their written explanation through their legal representatives, and three others — Youth and Sports Ministry and District Administrative Office of Lalitpur and Kathmandu — via Attorney General’s office within 15 days. In his writ petition, Chitrakar — member of the Rukma Shumsher Rana-led NOC during 1997-98 which was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 2008 — has claimed that the current President Shrestha was not the authentic one and that he had no right to invite national associations to take part in elective general assembly.

Rana and his team fought for their existence since the 2007 elective general assembly which elected Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan as the president. A couple of officials moved the court after facing defeats in that elections and the Supreme Court reinstated the Rana-led NOC which was registered at District Administration Office in Kathmandu. Pradhan retired after serving the NOC for two terms and Shrestha took over the body in 2015. In a separate order, the Supreme Court has also recognised the Shrestha-led NOC giving it the right to carry out activities related to Olympic movement.

Recently, the officials of both the committees reached an agreement and the NOC also amended its statute to incorporate the agitators in its bid to end long-standing controversy once and for all.