KATHMANDU, March 24: The Supreme Court has dealt a subtle blow to the government by issuing an interim order Tuesday staying the government decision of retiring eight Nepal Army generals early last week.
The apex court, acting on a joint writ petition filed by the brigadier generals on Monday, ordered the government, which has been at odds with the state army for an extended period of time, not to enforce its decision to give the brigadiers automatic retirement. [break]
Brigadier generals congratulate each other following the apex court decision at the court premises on Tuesday.
Bijay Rai
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While issuing its interim order to the government, Justice Kalayan Shrestha invoked the precedent set in a case involving then major general Pradip Pratap Bam Malla, who had been given retirement in a similar fashion by the government in 2006. The apex court, in its final verdict, had reinstated Malla in his post.
"We have been given justice though the government had meted out injustice to us for political reasons," Brigadier General Raju Pratap KC, one of the writ petitioners, told myrepublica.com after the interim order.
However, the court said that the interim order is subject to revision after the defendants -- Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Defense Ministry and Army Headquarters -- send their replies over the retirement row within 15 days.
Amidst deepening political controversy, the government had retired Brigadier Generals Nara Bahadur Kandel, Narendra Bahadur Rawal, Kumar Bodhathoki, Pawan Bahadur Pandey, Pradip Bikram Rana, Shiva Kumar Poudel, Ramesh Bista and Raju Pratap KC. Their terms expired last Monday once their terms were not extended.
