Monday, February 25, 2008

SC withdraws fine on lawyer Khanal
The Supreme Court has decided to withdraw its February 6 decision to fine lawyer Dhananjaya Khanal for bringing a frivolous writ petition. While quashing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Khanal, Justices Balram KC and Gauri Dhakal had pronounced a fine of Rs 5 on Khanal. However, the judges, in the full text of the verdict of the petition prepared on Sunday, ruled otherwise. The judges said in the full text verdict, "Though the bench concluded it would slap the legal cost on the petitioner as a token of punishment, the petitioner be exempted from the fine as he is a lawyer." However, the bench warned the lawyer not to produce frivolous writ petitions in future. The decision to fine the lawyer, the first of its kind in Nepali judiciary, had drawn criticism from the lawyers' community.

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