January 18: The Supreme Court has issued an interim order to CG Telecom to stop operation of mobile telecommunication service.

A division bench of Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana and justice Iswar Prasad Khatiwada issued the order on Thursday, January 17, quashing an earlier order that granted permission for the company to operate the service.

Earlier on December 25, senior-most justice Deepak Raj Joshi had issued an interim order allowing CG to operate telecom service.

The latest order of the apex court has halted the operation of the company owned by billionaire industrialist Binod Chaudhary with immediate effect. The Supreme Court’s order comes in response to a petition filed by Nepal Telecommunication Authority to halt the service.

In the petition, NTA has said CG Communication’s claim that it has acquired license to operate mobile service is false. NTA clarified that it had granted permission to CG Telecom some 15 years ago to provide rural telecom service only in 16 districts of the then eastern development region of the country.