KATHMANDU, April 22: The Supreme Court (SC) on Sunday issued an interim order scrapping a writ petition that demanded a ban on the production and advertisement of alcoholic products. 

A joint bench of justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Prakash Kumar Dhungana on Sunday issued the interim order after hearings on the petition filed by advocate Dilli Prasad Neupane. In his writ petition, Neupane had claimed that Section 45 of the Public Health Act 2018 and Section 6 of the Consumers Protection Act 2018 had provisions to stop the production and advertisement of alcoholic beverages.

The petition was filed against the government, various major media houses, and alcohol producing companies . 

Advocates from the major media houses based in the capital and government authorities had gathered at the court on Sunday to place their arguments on the case. The defendants argued that the advertisement of alcoholic beverages in the media was as provided by various laws related to information and communication and that banning the production and advertisement of alcoholic beverages was not mentioned in the Public Health Act 2018. They argued that the court should not issue an order banning the production and advertisement of alcoholic products. 

The defendants further claimed the SC should not issue the interim order to ban the products arguing that the plaintiff must have an ill-intention behind filing such a case against the companies which are legally registered and have been paying their share of taxes to the government. 

Petitioner Neupane had demanded an interim order to ban alcoholic beverages “since the laws have provisions for the ban.” The writ petition was filed against the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, health ministry, information ministry, Gorkha Brewery, Nepal Republic Media, Kantipur Publications, Nepal News Network, and Carlsberg group, among other organizations.

 
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