KATHMANDU, March 6: The Patan High Court has annulled the agreement made with the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) for the operation of the Pashupati Gaushala Dharamshala.
On Wednesday, a division bench of Justices Munendra Prasad Awasthi and Hemant Rawal ordered that the Dharamshala should be operated by the Marwadi Sewa Samiti.
An agreement was signed between the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) and the Marwadi Sewa Samiti to operate the Dharamshala on May 26, 2002. However, the PADT unilaterally terminated the agreement on August 2, 2023 and decided to hand over the responsibility of operating the Dharamshala to the KMC on October 9.
The Marwadi Sewa Samiti had later sought the court's intervention to enforce compliance with a previous agreement.
After the Kathmandu District Court rejected the Samiti‘s claim, an appeal was filed in the Patan High Court. The court had already issued a short-term interim order on October 18, indicating that KMC would not be allowed to operate the dharamshala.
After the final hearing on March 5, the High Court ruled to annul the agreement between KMC and the PADT, Parbati Hitan, Information Officer of the High Court. With this order, the way has been cleared for the Marwadi Sewa Samiti to once again operate the Pashupati Gaushala Dharamshala. After the court's decision, the initial agreement between the PADT and the Samiti in 2060 BS will be followed.