Gani  Ansari

In a major blow to the present technocratic government, the Supreme Court (SC) has issued an interim order against the agreement with India to allow the latter to upgrade the immigration system at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) and to set up Indian immigration check points at Lumbini and Pashupatinagar.

After hearings on a writ petition filed by Advocate Shree Prasad Pandit, a single bench of Justice Tarka Raj Bhatta on Monday ordered the government not to proceed with points No. 21 and 25 of the ´Agreed Minutes of the Meeting between the Home Secretaries of Nepal and India´ until the apex court´s final verdict. Justice Bhatta also ordered the defendants to furnish clarifications in writing within 15 days on the bilateral agreement and as to why the court should not issue an order as demanded by the writ petitioner.

The SC order comes on the eve of a visit by Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid to Nepal. He is arriving in Kathmandu Tuesday morning.

Citing the sensitivity of the issues raised in the writ petition, the apex court also decided to give priority to the petition.

Advocate Pandit, who is a former SC registrar, moved the SC on Friday, urging the court to annul those two points in the agreement. He argued that the establishment of Indian immigration checkpoints on Nepali territory would harm the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.

The petitioner has urged the apex court to also issue a mandamus order to implement other points in the bilateral agreement only after their endorsement by parliament in accordance with Article 156 of the Interim Constitution.

Pandit has maintained that points No. 21 and 25 of the agreement are not in the interest of the country. The petitioner has further argued that setting up of immigration checkpoints by any foreign country in the territory of a sovereign country means an attack on its sovereign existence.

The petitioner has further claimed that points 21 and 25 are against Article 156 of the Interim Constitution.

Nepal and India had inked the 28-point agreement at a home secretary-level meeting held in Kathmandu on June 1.

As per point No. 21 of the agreement, the Nepali side has agreed to cooperate with the Indian side in order to upgrade the immigration system at TIA and to move ahead with this through diplomatic channels.

As per point No. 25, the Nepali side has agreed to allow the Indian side to set up Indian immigration checkpoints at Lumbini and at Pashupatinagar in eastern Nepal.

The Office of the Prime Minister, the minister for home affairs and his ministry, the minister for foreign affairs and his ministry and the secretary at the home ministry are named as defendants in the writ petition.

Published on: 9 July 2013 | Republica