A single bench of Justice Prakash Wasti issued a pre-stay order against the DRI and told the latter to present itself before the court on Tuesday along with all the documents seized from the law firm for discussion on whether the SC should issue an order as demanded by the writ petitioner. [break]
The apex court has also ordered the defendants to furnish clarification in writing within 15 days as to why the raid was conducted.
Thapa on Sunday moved the apex court with a writ petition arguing that his firm was raided as he has been opposing appointment of former secretary Lokman Singh Karki as chief commissioner of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA).
The DRI on Friday had raided five firms including the Legal Advisors Forum run by Thapa, on suspicion of tax evasion. The investigation team had seized laptop computers, desktop computers, cash receipts and revenue-related documents from the firms, for further investigations.
Pleading on behalf of the writ petitioner, senior advocates came down heavily on the DRI stating that move was intended at taking revenge on Thapa.
Senior advocate Satish Krishna Kharel claimed that the DRI conducted the raid with an intention to terrorize legal practitioners.
Stating that the DRI took away all secret documents from the law firm, he said that the move was against the existing legal provision of maintaining privacy of clients.
Former Constituent Assembly (CA) member and senior advocate Radheshyam Adhikari claimed that the DRI took the action in tacit understanding with Chairman of Interim Election Council Khil Raj Regmi and the CIAA head Karki.
Constitutional expert Bhimarjun Acharya termed the DRI raid an attack on the entire legal system of the country.
President of Nepal Bar Association (NBA) Hari Krishna Karki argued that the DRI carried out the raid by going beyond its jurisdiction.
NBA former President Prem Bahadur Khadka said that the raid was akin to one conducted against a noodles factory.
Similarly, senior advocate Harihar Dahal maintained that the raid has created such an environment that advocates cannot plead against senior government officials.
As per existing provisions, service firms with annual transactions of over Rs 1 million must register for VAT and pay annual income tax by submitting financial statements to the tax office regularly.
Chairman of Interim Election Council Regmi and his office, CIAA chief Karki, Director General of the Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI) Khum Raj Punjali and Director Bharat Raj Subedi, among others have been named as defendants in the petition.
Legal practitioners stage protest
Legal practitioners on Sunday covered their mouths with black masks and staged protests on the court premises from 11 am to 12 noon across the country protesting against the quashing of 17 writ petition by the Supreme Court before hearings.
A full bench of Acting Chief Justice Damodar Prasad Sharma and Justices Prakash Wasti and Tarka Raj Bhatta on Thursday had ruled that the writ petitions share issues with other seven petitions, which are related to the presidential order and were filed since March 14, when Regmi was appointed the chairman of the Interim Election Council.
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