SC hearings conclude, verdict on Friday

The Supreme Court Thursday concluded hearing on a number of cases against the recently promulgated media ordinance that has imposed fresh curbs on the media sector.

A special bench comprising Chief Justice Dilip Kumar Poudel and Justices Kedar Giri and Sarada Prasad Pandit heard arguments from defence attorneys as well from the petitioners’ side.

Advocates including Subash Nemwang, Madhav Baskota and Rabi Raj Bhandari presented their arguments in favour of various writ petitions seeking an interim order halting the implementation of the ‘unconstitutional’ ordinance which has been described by national and international media rights groups and human rights organisations as being draconian.

The court, it is learnt, is set to announce a decision on Friday whether to issue an interim order on the cases.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) case was filed against the media ordinance on October 21 while nine professional organisations including Nepal Bar Association (NBA), Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) and Nepal University Teachers Association (NUTA) had brought a case on October 23.

Then the management of Kantipur FM, a private radio station, had filed a case against the government action – FM equipment were seized in a midnight raid on October 21 – carried out under the new ordinance. nepalnews.com mk Nov 10 05

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