KATHMANDU, June 3: A group of citizens have seriously objected to the criticisms and comments made at the political level against the Supreme Court’s full-bench decision of May 26 that annulled the government decision to build an international airport in Bara’s Nijgadh.

The full bench of the apex court annulled the decision to build international airport in Nijgadh arguing that certain decisions taken by the Government of Nepal (GoN) were against the existing laws of the country.

They have claimed that the directives given by the International Relations Committee of the House of Representatives (HoR) to the government to remove legal hurdles to resume Nijgadh Airport construction work seeks to infringe upon right of the judiciary to administer independent justice. The parliamentary committee had also maintained that the apex court's order "does not seem reasonable from any point of view."

Although there could be a healthy debate on the decision made by the judiciary, the act of instructing the government to disobey the decision of the apex court-- the custodian of fundamental rights and the final interpreter of the constitution and law-- without even seeing the full text of the verdict, so as to create distrust in the public does not appear to fall within the jurisdiction of the parliamentary committee as specified in Rule 175 of the Rules of Procedure of the House of Representatives, 2018.

"We urge all, including political party leaders, people's representatives and government officials to respect the dignity of the judiciary by upholding the principle of separation of powers and the values ​​of judicial independence enshrined in Article 56 (6), Article 126, Article 128 (2) and (4) of the constitution," reads the appeal. 

"We urge all to be serious about fulfilling their duties as prescribed by the constitution and law by exercising restraint toward each other and not to escalate the conflict between the major organs of the state in a democratic system," the appeal reads further.

Those issuing the appeal include Daman Nath Dhungana, Anup Raj Sharma, Balram KC, Charan Prasain, Kanak Mani Dixit, Tara Nath Dahal, Gita Pathak Sangroula and Raju Prasad Chapagain. 

 
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