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Kathmandu Saturday September 22, 2001 Ashwin 06, 2058.
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SC verdict sows confusion
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Sept 21 – The Supreme Court verdict yesterday
dismissing writs against the government’s land reforms measures as well as declaring
unconstitutional Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s freeze on land sales has created
confusion over the exact meaning of the important ruling.
And it is not just the layman who is trying to figure out
what the Court actually meant, but also seasoned legal practitioners. Many experts say,
yesterday’s decision is perhaps one of the most confusing in the history of the
Supreme Court in Nepal.
The confusion stems from the fact that the Court, in its
verdict, quashed all the writs filed against the freeze of land sales. But it also ruled
unconstitutional and illegal Deuba’s freeze on land sales. The question being asked
is: if both sides’ arguments have been rejected, then what is the effective land
ceiling for the moment?
In the absence of the full text of the verdict, which could
take 15 days or more to be made available, lawyers assume that the ceiling on the land is
now going on effectively what it was before Deuba announced his measures on August 16.
Many lawyers including some of the senior legal experts
declined to comment publicly about on the Court verdict saying that they are not clear
about it. But
Subash Nembang, an opposition UML lawmaker and renowned legal
expert, argues that the verdict effectively takes the ceiling back to pre August 16.
Though he notes that a new bill is currently in parliament that reduces the land ceiling,
until that becomes law, the ceiling is the same as before. "Until the bill becomes
law, the land ceiling prevailing now is 28 bighas ,not 11 bighas," he said.
That is also the reasoning throughout Nepal. In the various
land revenue offices scattered in Kathmandu Valley today, throngs of people came to
transfer ownership as per the old ceiling which was barred by the Deuba announcement.
Though the Deuba government had later allowed land transactions to continue, it had
restricted such transactions for over the 11 bigha proposed ceiling in the Terai and
corresponding proposed ceiling in Kathmandu and the hills. Similar rush to transfer
ownership is being reported from the districts, mainly in the Terai. But in Kapilvastu
today, the land revenue office denied such transactions owing to the confusion created by
the verdict.
Some legal experts say that the confusion could also have
been created by the government’s lack lustre response to the Court verdict. "The
government has controlled the information about the verdict in the government media"
said advocate Avdesh Kumar Singh.
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