KATHMANDU, April 15: The Supreme Court (SC) has issued a short-term interim order, which instructed the government not to proceed for now with the appointment of a new Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank.
A single bench of Justice Nitya Nanda Pandey has scheduled the next hearing for Monday, calling both parties for discussion. After the hearing, a decision will be made on whether or not to issue a longer interim order.
Due to the current short-term interim order, the newly amended criteria introduced by the government will not come into effect. This means that if the government appoints a Governor before Monday, the appointee must be someone who has not yet reached the age of 65.
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A writ petition challenging the government's amendment removing the age limit from the criteria for appointing the Governor was filed at the Supreme Court on April 13.
Advocates Pratibha Upreti and Bishal Thapa filed the writ petition on Sunday. In the petition, they demanded that the government’s decision be annulled and that a mandamus order be issued requiring age-related qualifications for the appointment of the Governor.
Since it may take time for the final verdict on the case, the petition also requested an interim order to prevent the government from proceeding with the appointment process without including age-related criteria. Responding to this request, the court issued a short-term interim order.
The Ministry of Finance had recently removed Clause 39 (c) of the ‘Criteria for the Appointment and Nomination of Officials and Members of Public Bodies Affiliated to the Ministry of Finance, 2073’ that had set an age limit for the appointment of the Governor.
Previously, the criteria stipulated that executive heads must be at least 30 years old, and other officials and members must be at least 35 years old, but none should exceed the age of 65.
The government has called a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday evening. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli called the meeting after holding discussions with Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba. Among other things, the appointment of the Governor was also discussed during their meeting earlier in the day.
