Kathmandu, Oct 16-Two lawyers said today the government has seriously undermined the Supreme Court stay order by issuing an ordinance to ban broadcasting of news by FM radio stations. They said they are preparing to seek legal remedy against the government’s move.
The Nepal Bar Association (NBA) is studying how to seek legal remedy by challenging the Ordinance promulgated to amend Media Acts.“Promulgation of the Ordinance is an action by the government to undermine the Supreme Court’s orders,” president of Nepal Bar Association, Shambhu Thapa, told this daily today.
The apex court had on August 10 issued a stay order allowing FM stations to air news and
later gave a go ahead with the order on September 7 in a decision against the government’s attempt to vacate the order.
Thapa also added that the NBA is going to hold discussions with the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) tomorrow on how to provide legal remedy on the issue. The FNJ has already said that it would move the apex court against the Ordinance. “We will file either a contempt of court case against the government or a writ petition seeking nullification of the Ordinance,” Thapa added.
“This is undermining of the apex court order,” advocate Agni Kharel, who had pleaded before the apex court on behalf of the FM stations, said.
“The government has tried to undermine the apex court while the court is preparing to hold final hearing on the case,” Kharel added. The apex court has already scheduled November 29 for the final on hearing of the case.
“Though the government has authority to promulgate ordinances, promulgation of this one is a contemptuous action because it has tried to affect a sub-judice case,” he added.
Mainwhile,The copy made available to newspapers today states that the ordinance has amended Radio Act 2014, Rastriya Samiti Act 2019, Press and Publication Act 2048, Press Council Act 2048, National Broadcasting Act 2049 and Defamation Act 2016. The Ordinance has banned the publication of all materials: that would affect the political parties negatively, that are obscene, provokes any arms group against the government, terrorises the public, undermines any community, goes against the non-alignment foreign policy of the government, or the material prohibited by existing laws.
The amending of the Press and Publication Act 2048 has restricted the press from criticising the King and members of the royal family. Earlier, only the King only was beyond criticism.
The gazette states that the government will impose a fine of upto Rs one lakh to the publisher or the editor of the material that invokes the Defamation Law. This increase in fines is nearly ten times that imposed by the then parliament.
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