Kathmandu, February 5
The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued an interim order, staying the government decision to increase the minimum wage of journalists by 25 per cent.
A single bench of Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher Rana issued the order in response to a writ filed by Mohan Chandra Singh among others.
Rana has stated in the order that the Working Journalists Act authorises the Minimum Wage Fixation Committee to recommend wages for journalists only; but the government made the decision to raise the pay of other non-journalistic staff of media houses also based on the recommendation.
Therefore, the decision was dragged into a controversy so it should not be implemented now, according to the court.
The government in October last year had decided to increase the journalists’ monthly minimum wage to Rs 24,375 from Rs 19,500.
Meanwhile, the court has also told the government to furnish with it the reasons behind the decision, within next 15 days.
