Kathmandu, June 18
The Supreme Court has issued an interim order barring it from implementing a provision introduced in the annual budget plan for the next fiscal year about exporting stones and pebbles.
The provision was dragged into controversy as conservationists and activists said the government was exploiting the available natural resources in the Chure region at the cost of the environment in the name of reducing the budget deficit. Consequently, some lawyers had filed writ petitions at the apex court against the provision.
Hearing the petitions today, a constitutional bench of Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher Rana and justices Deepak Kumar Karki, Mira Khadka, Hari Krishna Karki and Bishwambhar Prasad Shrestha issued an interim order. Now, the government cannot implement the provision unless a final verdict is issued.
