KATHMANDU, Dec 28: The Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) has pushed through the election for its executive board against the stay order of the Supreme Court which directed it not to hold the election.
The NOC is currently holding its election through an online process with the voting window open from 1 pm on Saturday. The election is against the stay order issued by the single bench of Justice Saranga Subedi at the Supreme Court on Thursday responding to a writ petition filed by Kamal Bahadur Chitrakar seeking to stop the NOC election.
With the holding of the election, the NOC leadership under president Jeevan Ram Shrestha has defied three orders from governmental authorities. They have defied an order from the Patan High Court, a directive from the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MoYS), and an order from the SC.
Supreme Court stays Nepal Olympic Committee election
The committee members and office-bearers under Jeevan Ram had firstly defied the Patan High Court’s order to not move forward with statute amendment by organizing a special general meeting on Dec 3, amending the statute and announcing the election on Dec 28. The amendment had enabled Jeevan Ram to contest the election for a third consecutive term. The clause 25(1) of the NOC’s statute states that a sitting president of the NOC cannot contest an election for a third consecutive term.
The leadership then defied a directive from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) to not move forward with the election process. The MoYS had written to the MoHA on December 22 to stop the candidacy registration scheduled for Dec 23. However, as the police personnel from the District Police Range (DPR), Lalitpur, picketed the Nepal Olympic Building on December 23, Jeevan Ram moved the candidacy registration to an online platform.
In Saturday’s online election for the executive committee, the posts except for the president have been declared unopposed. Even for the post of the president, one of the candidates Nilendra Shrestha has shown disinterest following the order of the SC. NOC General Secretary Nilendra Raj Shrestha even took to Facebook on Friday night to urge NOC representatives not to go against the SC’s stay order.
Nilendra slammed Jeevan Ram for going forward with the election in an illegal way. “Perhaps he thinks of himself as the supreme authority of the state,” Nilendra told Republica, “By going to such lengths against the high court, the supreme court and the concerned ministry Jeevan Ram has shown his disregard for Nepal’s laws and regulations.”
