Hearing on Media Ordinance Case to Continue Tomorrow

Kathmandu, Oct 30- full bench comprising Chief Justice Dilip Kumar Paudel and justices Kedar Prasad Giri and Sarada Prasad Pandit today started hearing on separate writ petitions filed against the recently promulgated media ordinance.

Pleading on behalf of the petitioners, constitutional expert Purna Man Shakya, lawyers Chandra Gyawali, Kumar Regmi, Madhav Kumar Basnet, Dhurba Lal Shrestha, Kahar Singh Khadka, Madhav Kumar Basnet and Ravi Raj Bhandari presented their arguments before the bench in today’s hearing. The hearing will continue tomorrow.

They claimed that the ordinance was promulgated in an arbitrary manner and that it contradicts with the spirit of the 1990 Constitution. The also demanded the apex court to continue the stay order it issued on Thursday in the Kantipur FM case.

Government lawyers, including Attorney General Pawan Kumar Ojha, will present their arguments tomorrow.

Advocates Ravi Raj Bhandari and Kahar Singh Khadka, Kaptipur Publications and six professional organizations had filed three separate petitions at the Supreme Court in different dates seeking apex court order to nullify the ordinance.