The Supreme Court has ordered the Gandaki Province government not to suspend the implementation of the recently introduced Ride Sharing (Regulation and Management) Regulations-2082, effectively clearing the way for their enforcement.
A division bench of Justices Til Prasad Shrestha and Mahesh Sharma Poudel issued the interim order on Tuesday in response to a writ petition challenging the provincial government's June 3 decision to put the regulations on hold for a month.
Chief Attorney of the Gandaki Province, Chiranjivi Sharma, told the state-run national news agency RSS that the Supreme Court's order enables the continued enforcement of the regulations, which had been suspended following pressure from transport entrepreneurs.
The Gandaki government had published the ride-sharing regulations in the provincial gazette on May 13, RSS further reported. However, the move sparked a two-day nationwide strike led by the Federation of Nepal Transport Entrepreneurs, bringing public transportation services to a standstill and causing widespread disruption.
Following protests, the federal government intervened. The Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers wrote to the Gandaki Province government recommending the temporary suspension of the new regulations to ease tensions with transport entrepreneurs. The provincial government subsequently decided to halt implementation for one month.
The strike was withdrawn after a late-night agreement on June 3 between transport entrepreneurs and the federal government, mediated by senior officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport. Public transportation services resumed on June 4.
