Kantipur FM to move Supreme Court

Kathmandu Oct 23-Kantipur FM has decided to move to the Supreme Court against the attack by policemen and the seizure of transmission equipment by government officials with the help of police Friday midnight under the newly promulgated media ordinance.
The Kathmandu Post quoted legal advisor to Kantipur Publications Ram Krishna Nirala as saying, "We have prepared a case against the government action and the ordinance."
He added that the government took the equipment of the FM station despite the license it possesses to transmit the same programs from different locations from 2000, and a case seeking annulment of the new ordinance and return of the equipment has been filed.
Nirala claimed that the new ordinance contravenes the rights guaranteed by the constitution and the provision in the Radio Act.
Talking to State Run Nepal Television, Spokesman of the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) Ratna Raj Pandey said that the ministry took action against Kantipur FM as it was airing program defying recently promulgated ordinance which prohibits to air program from different locations at the same time.
In its front page editorial entitled "State Terror" the Kantipur daily described the incident as a systematic attack to not only the FM station and journalists but also the rights of all FM audience and general public as well.
The Kathmandu Post in its front page editorial "State Terrorism" described the incident as similar to the Maoist attack at Nepal Television's regional station at Kohalpur in western Nepal on February 25 and writes "The government's midnight attack at Kantipur FM, bringing its eastern region transmission to a halt, is also aimed at stopping it from providing true and objective information to its six million audience in the eastern region