Nepal

Kathmandu July 5

Federation of Nepali Journalists organised a ‘press freedom assembly& today as part of its third phase of protest against the Media Council Bill.

On the occasion, civil society members flayed the government for bringing Nepal Media Council Bill with restrictive provisions.

Human rights activist Krishna Pahadi said the government was under the influence of mafias and it brought anti-media bill to discourage media professionals from writing critical news stories against the government. He said freedom of expression and press freedom were the basic human rights which should not be infringed upon.

FNJ Chair Govinda Acharya said the FNJ had been protesting against the Media Council Bill and yet the government was not responding to its demands. He said FNJprotest against the bill was aimed at protecting press freedom.

Former President of Nepal Press Council Rajendra Dahal said the bill exposed the governmentill intention to curtail press freedom.

He said the government needed to discuss all issues related to press with the FNJ. Former President of FNJ Shiva Gaunle said it was ironical that the government elected by the people was trying to curtail press freedom.

FNJ General Secretary Ramesh Bista said journalists& umbrella body would be compelled to launch fourth phase of protest if the government did not make the bill press-friendly.

Senior Advocate Satish Krishna Kharel said Nepal Media Council Bill and Information Technology Bill were brought by the government with the purpose of discouraging media professionals from criticising the wrongdoings of ministers.

Kharel said there was no need to bring Media Council Bill, Information Technology Bill or any other bills to regulate the press or media professionals as the existing libel act was enough to deal with any defamatory contents. &If the existing libel act is not enough, then the government may increase punitive measures in the law. Strict enforcement of code of conduct can be another measure to regulate media. If still, the government thinks it is not sufficient to regulate the media, then it can amend the existing law. The government should not have brought these restrictive bills,& he said.

He added that the current bills were aimed at protecting the interests of the government ministers. &Under existing legal provision, an individual who has been defamed has to fight a long battle against his/her tormentor and the plaintiff also has to bear the burden of proof. The new bills make defamation against a government minister a government case,& Kharel said. He also said as per the standard legal practice if any individual commits an offence, then the single concerned law should be enough to deal with the case.

Section 100 of IT Bill stipulated that if an offence under it was also an offence under other acts, then the offender shall be prosecuted under other acts also.

Kharel said such provisions would only victimise media professionals and others who want to exercise freedom of expression.

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Kathmandu, July 4

The Cabinet meeting held on June 27 has made various decisions regarding activities of the government. Minister of Communications and Information Technology Gokul Baskota announced the governmentdecisions at a press meet organised in Singha Durbar today.

The government has formed an eight-member talks team led by a joint secretary at the Ministry of Finance to accept subsidised loan by Asian Development Bank for improvement of the Bagmati River banks. The MoF has been authorised to obtain financial assistance from Germany.

The government has also decided to provide Rs 38.2 million to Nepal Drugs Limited as salary and allowance for its retired and other employees. The government has extended the deadline of a committee headed by the Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police formed to investigate the guthi and government land for two additional months. &Nepal Engineering Council Act will be amended and published in the Nepal Gazette,& Minister Baskota said.

Employees of the Central Child Welfare Board and District Child Welfare Board will be adjusted. The government has also decided to promote three colonels to brigadier generals, and transfer 16 brigadier generals of the Nepali Army. Brigadier General (technical) Kamal Singh Pradhan, Colonel (technical) Shardlal Shrestha, and Lieutenant Colonel (technical) Dr Sinita Panta have been promoted.

The government has decided to lease out 0.22 hectares of forest land located in Khadananda Municipality of Bhojpur district to Upper Chirakhwa Khola Hydropower Project (470 megawatt) for 30 years. The government will provide dress allowance to staffers and assistant workers of early childhood development centres of public schools starting this fiscal. The government has also approved the Casino (Fourth Amendment) Rules-2019.

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Kathmandu, July 5

The Supreme Court issued an interim order to BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan today to halt admission process for MD, MS and MDS programmes.

A single bench of Justice Tanka Bahadur Moktan issued the order on a writ petition filed by Dr Pushpa Mani Kharal, a medical activist. In the petition he had accused the institution of allocating more quotas to foreign students. The court ordered BPKIHS to halt admission procedure until further notice. The apex court has ordered all the bodies concerned to be present in the court on July 14.

BPKIHS has been accused of allocating three out of five quotas each, in general medicine and paediatrics and four out of six quotas in surgery, for foreign students

The medical colleges can&t allocate more than one-third of the total seats for foreign students as per the National Medical Education Act.

&I filed the case because the decision of BPKIHS is not fair. Medical seats should be allocated in line with the National Medical Education Act,& said Kharal.

Junior Resident Welfare Society, a society of junior resident doctors at BPKIHS, had padlocked the offices of Vice-chancellor Dr Raj Kumar Rauniyar and Rector Dr Guru Khanaloffice protesting the enrolment of foreigner students exceeding the quotas allocated to them.

BPKIHS had, however, clarified that the quotas it allocated for foreign students was as per the National Medical Education Act. The agitating doctors have demanded that the quota rule be implemented properly.

• BPKIHS padlocked over foreign student quota
• Quota rule for foreign medical students not violated: BPKIHS

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Kathmandu, July 4

Police have arrested four persons for their alleged involvement in producing and selling fake smart driving licences.

Acting on a tip-off, a joint team of Metropolitan Police Crime Division and Metropolitan Traffic Police Division raided a house in Chabahil and took them into custody. Those arrested have been identified as Radheshyam Nagarkoti, 38, and Rupendra Darji, 27, of Kathmandu, Rajesh Kumar Shrestha, 38, of Sindhipalchowk, and Munal Kumar Moktan, 40, of Ramechhap.

MPCD officials said they were involved in making faking licences for long time and targeted persons who failed exams for obtaining licence, held by the Transport Management Office. The gang promised aspirants to provide ‘genuine& licences. They used to find their clients in and around the TMO.

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