SC urged to probe govt motive

Kathmandu, Nov7-Legal experts urged the SC to play a role to test the motive of the government in issuance of an ordinance at a time when there is no parliament to scrutinise the government’s motivation.
“The SC is the only body that can test the government’s motive at a time when there is no parliament,” said former speaker of the House of Representatives and one of the drafters of 1990 statute, Daman Nath Dhungana.

“If the Supreme Court, which is known as the third chamber of parliament in democracy, does not scrutinise the government’s action, people will take to the streets to do so.” Dhungana added: “The government cannot impose any law without the consent of the people.”

He was pleading before a full bench of Chief Justice Dilip Kumar Paudel and Justices Kedar Prasad Giri and Sharada Prasad Pundit.

It was a malicious act by the government to take action against any media house after promulgating an Act or ordinance years after that media had been running. He also argued that the right to information was a life-line of the people in democracy, and the government could not curb the rights of the people. “Neither can the government curb those rights guaranteed by the Constitution,” he added. He urged the SC to issue a stay order to the government not to implement the ordinance.

President of the Nepal Bar Association, Shambhu Thapa, said that if the SC did not stop the government from implementing the ordinance there would no rule of law in the country. “After that, the government will get a chance to start taking action against every media house,” he added. Thapa added that the government had no right to take action against any media house after issuing it licence.

Advocate Bhimarjun Acharya said the government had violated every constitutional norm while promulgating the media ordinance and also in taking action against the Kantipur FM. Advocates Sher Bahadur KC, Madhav Banskota and Gopal Siwakoti Chintan accused the government of promulgating the fiat with malafide intentions.

The bench ruled the petitioners’ lawyers to conclude their argument tomorrow after government attorneys including Attorney General Pawan Kumar Ojha put forth their arguments.