KATHMANDU, Jan 26: The Judgment Execution Directorate of the Supreme Court has said that the government has been disobeying its repeated order to recognize Sonaha community as indigenous group.
The Directorate expressed serious concerns after the government showed no interest to follow the order even as it wrote letters repeatedly to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers to implement the judgment handed down by the Supreme Court some four years ago.
“We wrote different letters to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. But there has not been any progress yet in this regard,” JED Director Shiva Kumar Pokhrel told Republica.
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A division bench of then Chief Justice Kalyan Shrestha and Justice Govinda Kumar Upadhayay had directed the government authorities-the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Law and Justice among others-- to put the community under the category of indigenous group in response to a writ petition that sought the apex court order in this regard.
The community has been living nearby Karnali River in Bardiya, Kailali, and Kanchanpur districts and the people of community make a living by catching fishes as well as searching traces of gold, from which the community gets its name. The apex court had also directed the government to protect their profession and not to create any problem in their livelihood.
Stating that the government authorities have created problems for them by restricting fishing in the river and searching gold by imposing unpractical time frame, they had knocked the door of the Supreme Court.
“We have been making efforts time and again but the government has not shown any interest,” Pokharel said adding, “It is the duty of the government to follow the order as per Article 128 of the Constitution.”
