Three cases related to Lalita Niwas land scam scheduled for hearing today

Kathmandu, January 19 — Three cases related to the controversy of corruption involving the misappropriation of government land at Lalita Niwas under private names have been scheduled for hearing in the Supreme Court.

The petitions filed by senior advocate Balkrishna Neupane are set to be heard on Sunday in a joint bench led by Justices Binod Sharma and Abdul Aziz Musalman.

The petitions call for legal action against former Prime Ministers Madhav Nepal and Baburam Bhattarai, among others, over the Lalita Niwas land scam. After the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a corruption case in the Special Court without naming the former Prime Ministers as defendants, senior advocate Neupane moved the Supreme Court with a writ petition.

The CIAA had decided not to pursue a case against the two former Prime Ministers, claiming they had only made policy decisions. The charge sheet filed in the Special Court also mentioned that the CIAA did not have the authority to pursue cases related to policy decisions made by heads of government.

The writ petition claims that the decision to transfer government land at Lalita Niwas to private names was made under the leadership of the then Prime Ministers.

On February 12, 2020, senior advocate Neupane filed the writ petition in the Supreme Court, requesting the court to order the prosecution of the former Prime Ministers. The petition contends that the decision to transfer government land at Lalita Niwas to private individuals was made during their tenure as Prime Ministers.

The case had not been scheduled for hearing for a long period, but recently, the Supreme Court issued an order to request necessary files from the Special Court and CIAA to determine whether or not a case should be filed against the two former Prime Ministers.

The Supreme Court had instructed the CIAA to submit its investigation files and the charge sheet filed in the Special Court. Those files have now been presented to the Supreme Court.

Madhav Nepal was the Prime Minister from 2009 to 2011, while Baburam Bhattarai served as Prime Minister from 2011 to 2013.

During Nepal's tenure, the Cabinet decided to expand the Prime Minister's residence at Baluwatar. As part of the expansion, a decision was made to swap government land with private land. Fake agreements were allegedly created to transfer government land at Baluwatar into private ownership.

Similarly, allegations have been made against Baburam Bhattarai's government for using fake agreements to transfer government land at Baluwatar to private names.

During Nepal's government, key ministers like Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar (Minister for Physical Infrastructure) and Dambar Shrestha (Minister for Land Reform) were accused, while in Bhattarai's government, Chandradev Joshi was the Minister for Land Reform.

The CIAA had included Gachchhadar and Shrestha as defendants in the charge sheet, but the Special Court had cleared them of charges.