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Hearing on Media Ordinance to continue on Thursday

Government Attorneys pleading on behalf of the defender in the controversial Media Ordinance claimed that there is no trend to air news by FM radios.

Pleading on behalf of the special bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday they claimed that the government has issued the ordinance as per the sprit of the constitution adding such provision is still in practice in India as well.

They also said that there is no need of issuing interim order for halting the implementation of the ordinance as the Ordinance was formed as per the National and International laws.

In response to the demand of the advocates of petitioner about the relevancy of issuing the ordinance they said that there is no need of explanation while issuing ordinances as no explanations were given in the past as well while issuing ordinances.

Former Attorney General Prem Bahadur Bista, Deputy Attorney Generals Dron Raj Regmi, Narendra Pathak and Tika Bahadur Hamal and senior advocate Kunja Bihari Prashad Sing pleaded on behalf of the defender.

They said that the ordinance was formed as per the recommendation of the committee formed by the previous government within the parameters of the 1990 constitution, adding, "the ordinance was promulgated to regulate the press, not control it."

Pleading on behalf the defender Attorney General (AG) Prof. Pawan Kumar Ojha on Monday defended the recently promulgated Media Ordinance arguing that the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal-1990 provides equal legislative authority to the executive to maintain law and order in the absence of the parliament.

Pleading on behalf of the petitioner lawyers claimed that the government issued the media ordinance to curtail the freedom of press guaranteed by the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990. They demanded stay order halting the implementation of the new ordinance saying the ordinance was issued against the sprit of the constitution of the 1990.

A special bench comprising Chief Justice Dilip Kumar Paudel and Justices Kedar Prashad Giri and Sharada Prasad Pundit is examining a number of cases against the recently promulgated media ordinance that has imposed fresh curbs on the independent media.

Three separate writ petitions were filed at the Supreme Court demanding an interim order halting the implementation of the new media ordinance.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) case was filed against the media ordinance on October 21 by advocates Rabi Raj Bhandari and Kahar Singh Khadka while nine professional organisations had brought a case on October 23.

Similarly, a writ petition was registered at the apex court by the management of Kantipur FM, a private sector FM radio station, against the government after the latter raided the FM station on October 21 and took away equipment.

The hearing will continue on Thursday as well.

The new press law and the government action have drawn condemnation from almost all quarters in the country as well as the international community. nepalnews.com pb Nov 08 05