Supreme Court schedules hearing on land donation to UML

Kathmandu, November 11 — A hearing has been scheduled for Monday on the writ petition filed questioning Bhatbhateni owner Min Bahadur Gurung's land donation to the UML. The petition will be heard by a bench of Justices Nahakul Subedi and Nityananda Pandey.

Following the initial hearing, the Supreme Court had issued a short-term interim order on October 28. The court will now discuss whether to extend or lift this order during today’s hearing. As the case is due for a hearing, it might be difficult to get a hearing slot soon.

Justice Pandey, who was appointed just this Sunday after parliamentary approval, will be part of the bench. Earlier, on October 28, a single bench of Justice Sunil Kumar Pokhrel had issued the short-term interim order.

The Supreme Court issued the interim order to both parties to hold off on further discussion until the next hearing. The ruling has come as a setback for the ruling party, UML, amid widespread criticism regarding the controversial land donation and questions raised by national and international anti-corruption organizations.

The writ was filed by lawyer Gyan Bahadur Basnet, who argued that the land donation decision should be annulled through the interim order. Initially, the Supreme Court had rejected the petition for registration, but after an appeal, a bench led by Justice Tilprasad Shrestha directed that the writ be registered. Following this order, the Supreme Court has instructed that construction work on the disputed land not proceed for now.