Supreme Court Overturns Government Decision on State Media Ads

Kathmandu. The Supreme Court has overturned the government's decision to provide government advertisements and information only to state-owned media (Gorkhapatra, Radio Nepal, and Nepal Television), stating that laws cannot be violated in the name of frugality.

A joint bench of Justices Saranga Subedi and Nripadhwaj Niroula has ruled that the decision violated the freedom of the press, the right to communication, and the right to equality guaranteed by the Constitution of Nepal. The court delivered this verdict while hearing separate writ petitions filed by advocates Anantraj Luintel and Rahul Kumar Shah on behalf of the Nepal Media Society. The full text of the verdict, made on Asar 30, was recently made public.