Capture of NOC building by Rana-led faction illegal, says Shrestha

Kathmandu, July 26

The Supreme Court has decided to continue with the interim order in the case of the legitimacy of Nepal Olympic Committee and take the case to full hearing.

Responding to the writ petition filed by the internationally-recognised NOC, led by Jeevan Ram Shrestha, the single bench of Justice Sharada Prasad Ghimire had on May 19 issued the interim order against the government authorities to keep the letters of Home Ministry on hold.

Shrestha had moved the apex court on May 18 — against 12 defendants — including the Home Ministry, Verdict Implementation Directorate of Supreme Court, Ministry for Home Affairs — after the Metropolitan Police Range, Lalitpur allowed the government-recognised Nepal Olympic Committee officials enter the NOC building as per the Home Ministry letter.

A group of Rukma Shumsher Rana-led committee — which had been aiming to take over the NOC building since the Supreme Court ruled in their favour five years ago — had locked the NOC building on January 21 and acquired the property since March 21.

On Friday, the division bench of Chief Justice Gopal Parajuli and Justice Kedar Prasad Chalise decided to continue with the interim order and take the matter to full hearing. “As the court has received written answers from both the parties, the court will now study the previous two decisions regarding the case and take the matter into the full hearing,” said the court in the order.

The NOC controversy dates back to the 2007 elections when a couple of officials from Rana-led faction moved the Supreme Court challenging the change of guard. Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan then served as the president for two terms before Jeevan Ram Shrestha defeated Umesh Lal Shrestha to become the NOC president on

September 3, 2015.

Following the court decision, NOC President Shrestha said the capture of the NOC building was illegal and urged the authorities to follow the court orders. “We had a court decision in our favour but the government administration ignored that and let the other side enter the building. But the latest decision has made us even stronger and we will knock the doors of government authorities to remove the other party from our property,” said Shrestha.

Shrestha reiterated that his committee was the only body responsible to carry out Olympic-related works in the country and no other individual or organisation was allowed to run the Olympic movement. “Nepal will not be able to participate in any international events if we are not allowed to work as the athletes should go through our channel at international arena,” he said today.

Regarding the 13th South Asian Games to be hosted by Nepal in 2019, Shrestha said they were already behind the schedule. “We are closely working with the Ministry of Youth and Sports and National Sports Council but we were not able to carry out works freely due to the controversy,” said Shrestha. “Now that the Supreme Court paved way for our entry, we will add pace and prepare for the Games,” he added.

The South Asian Olympic Council meeting, chaired by President Shrestha in Bhutan last month, had agreed for a 25-sport SA Games out of the proposed 28 sports disciplines. The next meeting to be held on the sidelines of the Asian Martial Arts Indoor Games slated for September in Turkmenistan will finalise the events.

Joint Secretary at Ministry of Youth and Sports Ram Prasad Thapaliya, NOC and SAOC General Secretary Lama Tendi Sherpa, NOC Member Nilendra Shrestha and Executive Secretary Sujan Lal Shrestha had also attended the meeting in Thimpu.