Responding to a writ petition filed by advocates Bishwas Acharya, Bimala Bartaula and Radha Sigdel at the apex court, a division bench of justices Ram Kumar Prasad Saah and Gyanendra Bahadur Karki said that the government can provide cash to them only after introducing a new law regarding the issue. [break]
The SC has stated that the government must issue a law for the purpose as per the Article 91 of the Interim Constitution.
A single bench of Justice Girish Chandra Lal on November 4, 2012 had stayed the government´s decision to provide the cash package to the unverified Maoist former combatants till November 11. Justice Lal had also ordered the defendants to furnish clarification in writing about why the decision was taken.
According to the then United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), about 3,000 Maoist former combatants were unverified during the verification process at the cantonments.
Advocates Acharya, Bartaula and Sigdel on November 1, 2012 had moved the apex court challenging the Baburam Bhattarai-led government´s decision to provide cash package to the unverified Maoist former combatants.
The writ petitioners had termed the move as ´anarchist´ and ´an example of policy-level corruption´. They had also claimed that the government move was intended to keep the unverified former combatants close to the party.
The Bhattarai-led coalition government had decided to provide Rs 200,000 to each of about 3,000 unverified Maoist former combatants. The then government had claimed that it took such a move in a bid to address demands of the unverified Maoist former combatants. The move was also criticized by the major opposition parties Nepali Congress and CPN-UML at the time.
Former Prime Minister Bhattarai and his office, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Peace and Re-construction were named as defendants in the writ petition.
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