KATHMANDU, Jan 21: The Supreme Court (SC) has directed the creation and implementation of laws for the extraction and sale management of riverine products like stones, gravel, and sand.
Justices Manoj Kumar Sharma and Tek Prasad Dhungana issued the directive to draft a River Products and Natural Resources (Extraction and Control) Act. The order has come in response to separate writ petitions filed by Senior Advocate Padma Bahadur Shrestha in May 2019 and April 2021.
Local unit against DFO over resource extraction
The SC has issued a directive based on the petitioner's request. The court has stated that the written order for the case decided on Monday is still being prepared. The petitioner reminded the court that the guidelines for River Products and Natural Resources (Extraction and Control), formulated by the seven provinces, as well as the government’s 2020 standards for the extraction, sale, and management of stones, gravel, and sand, and other related procedures were created to protect natural resources. However, the petitioner requested in the writ that the court create and immediately implement a separate River Products and Natural Resources (Extraction and Control) Act to permanently resolve the issue and protect the rivers, and issue the directive in the name of the concerned parties.
The petitioner requested the monitoring of excavation activities by those with permission and the immediate cessation of activities by those excavating without permission. The writ petition stated, "Issue a directive to immediately stop excavation activities that violate the Stone, Gravel, and Sand Extraction, Sales and Management Standards, 2020, the Environment Protection Act (2019), and its regulations." The SC issued the directive in response to the petitioner's request regarding these matters.
