Maoist Centre for starting process to get SC verdict on river bank criteria vacated soon

Kathmandu, September 11 — The CPN (Maoist Centre) has called attention of the government to forward the legal process required for vacating the Supreme Court (SC)'s verdict related to the criteria on river bank in the Kathmandu Valley.     

The main opposition party in the Federal Parliament has urged the government to start the process for immediately getting the verdict which has come in a way of depriving the constitutionally-guaranteed right and privilege of citizens and with a retroactive impact.     

The Supreme Court, in its verdict on December 19, 2023, had ordered the authorities to end encroachment into rivers in Kathmandu Valley, specifying additional 20 metres buffer zone on the 20 metres standard fixed earlier on both sides of the rivers and their tributaries in the Kathmandu Valley. Following the court’s ruling, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City on August 14 issued a notice prohibiting any construction within an additional 20 metres on either side of the riverbanks.     

Maoist Centre Vice-chair and party spokesman Agni Prasad Sapkota said that implementation of this verdict will displace hundreds of thousands of families in the Valley, they will lose their properties and become homeless and landless.     

The Maoist Centre has drawn the attention of all the local governments within the Kathmandu Valley, including the Kathmandu Metropolitan City, not to hurry in implementing the SC's verdict that is likely to hamper the constitutional right of many people in the Valley.