The Supreme Court (SC) has issued a short-term stay order in response to a writ petition challenging the land donated by controversial Bhat-Bhateni Supermarket owner Min Bahadur Gurung for the construction of the central party office building of the ruling party CPN (UML).
Hearing on the writ filed by advocate Gyan Kumar Basnet, a single bench of Justice Sunil Kumar Pokharel issued the short-term interim order halting the land donation process on Monday.
The discussions will be held at the joint bench on whether the interim order will be issued or not. The bench, led by Justice Pokharel, has called both the petitioner and the defendant to hear their arguments on November 11.
Earlier, the court administration had refused to register this writ petition. The petitioner approached the bench after the court administration rejected their registration request.
A single bench of Justice Til Prasad Shrestha ordered the court administration to register the writ arguing that this issue is of a public concern and it should be dealt with by a joint bench.
Min Bahadur Gurung, owner of Bhat-Bhateni Supermarket, who is implicated in various corruption cases, including forgery and tax evasion, announced on October 11 the donation of 14 ropanis and 14 anas of land in Kirtipur Municipality-2, Maitrinagar, for the construction of the UML's central party office building.
Prime Minister KP Oli and his wife along with land donor Gurung had jointly laid a foundation stone for the central party office building of the UML.
Advocate Basnet moved the Supreme Court arguing that accepting such a huge property donation by the head of government from a controversial figure constitutes a form of corruption.
Gurung is a convict of the high-profile Lalita Niwas land case. The Special Court has already slapped him with a two-year jail term for his involvement in the government land case.
"To accept such a huge property donation by a sitting prime minister is nothing but a corruption," reads the petition filed by Basnet, "This writ should be nullified."
This acceptance of land donation from a disputed businessman has sparked criticisms in the party itself. The UML has initiated disciplinary action against two party leaders, Binda Pandey and Usha Kiran Timsina, for their public criticisms of the land donation.
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