Hearing on FM from today

Kathmandu, Aug 23-The Supreme Court (SC) will conduct the hearing on the government’s writ petition , demanding the quashing of SC’s stay order not to ban the operation of Rainbow FM Pvt. Ltd. from today.Lok Man Singh Karki, Secretary at the Ministry of Information and Communications, filed the writ petition through the office of the Attorney General (AG), stating that the stay order should be quashed which was against the existing provisions of the laws to regulate the FM radio stations.The government has claimed that the order of the single bench of the Court has created lots of controversies, which is against the existing laws of the country regarding the broadcasting of news. The ruling was against the principles of natural justice, as it did not provide opportunity to the defendants to clarify. As per the provision of the Clause 6 of the National Broadcasting Act 2049, the FM should be run under the criteria provisioned under the Act.As per the existing laws, the government has rights to determine the criteria of FM stations and the order of the Court was against the Clause 8 of the National Broadcasting Regulation 2052, it has stated.The exercise of freedom in a reckless manner and the lack of provision to curb such things would only serve to ruin the very foundation of democracy, the petition said.The government has also submitted the written reply at the Court as per its order in connection to the case. In the reply the ministry has claimed that the writ petition of the petitioner should be dismissed.