The Supreme Court on Monday, October 28, issued an interlocutory interim order for PM Oli’s party CPN-UML to not proceed with the construction of its party office on land it has recently received as a 'donation'.
A single bench of Justice Sunil Kumar Pokharel issued the order, according to RSS, the state-owned news agency.
Min Bahadur Gurung, owner of the Bhatbhateni Supermarket chain, has ‘gifted’ the ruling party 10 ropani 14 aana land in Kirtipur Municipality-2, Kathmandu, earlier this month.
PM Oli and Gurung had jointly laid the foundation stone for building the party headquarters on the land.
However, the act of a businessman giving the ruling party such a lavish ‘present’ has received criticism from all quarters, including the party members.
Many have argued that such a ‘donation’ is a well established tactic for rich businessmen and organisations in the country to increase their influence in a political party to gain personal favours in future.
“The order states that action including transfer of ownership of the land said to have been donated should not proceed until the interim order is discussed and resolved,” says the RSS report.
The order quotes the provisions of Sections 38 (3) and 38 (6) of the Political Party Act, 2073 BS, as well as the provision of financial aid in Section 38(5) of the same Act, which outline conditions to be met by a political party to receive a donation. It was issued after a preliminary hearing on the writ petition filed by advocate Dr Gyan Bahadur Basnet demanding annulment of the decision to donate land to UML.
The court has summoned both sides for a discussion on November 11.
RSS
