Kathmandu. KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court (SC) has quashed a writ petition filed by the government demanding to stop the construction of hydropower projects in the national park area, demanding scrapping all the agreements and understandings signed with the government for the construction of the project.
KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court (SC) has dismissed a writ petition filed by the government seeking to stop the construction of the 30-megawatt Langtang Khola Hydropower Project in the Langtang National Park. A division bench of Justices Tek Prasad Dhungana and Shanti Singh Thapa on November 19 dismissed the writ petition. Earlier, a division bench of Justices Kumar Regmi and Nahku Subedi had refused to issue an interim order in favour of the petitioner on June 7, 2022.
Multi Energy Development Pvt Ltd had started the construction of Langtang Khola Hydropower Project since 2073 BS. Suppa Tamang and others had filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court on May 10, 2022 seeking to stop the construction of the project.
A division bench of Justices Kumar Regmi and Nahuku Subedi on June 8, 2079 refused to issue an interim order on the writ petition citing that the concerned bodies should not continue to issue the interim order as per the demand of the concerned bodies as per the required process of completion of the required process as per the law. The writ petition was dismissed on November 3 after the final hearing of the same writ. Legal practitioners have said that in view of this decision of the Supreme Court, the construction of any hydropower project in the national park cannot be stopped by completing all the necessary procedures.
The Supreme Court has upheld that the construction and operation of hydropower projects in the Nikunj area can be operated as per the decision of this writ petition as the Supreme Court has summoned the respondents in the said writ petition and after the arguments of all the parties, the plaintiff’s writ petition has been dismissed. Bijay Mohan Bhattarai, executive committee member of Nepal (IPPAN), said. Bhattarai said that if the government tries to stop the construction of hydropower projects in the area after this decision, a contempt of court case can be filed against any agency that has stopped the construction of hydropower projects.
A writ petition has been filed at the Supreme Court demanding annulment of the decision of the Government of Nepal (Council of Ministers) for the construction of hydropower projects in the Langtang area, the agreement of the Department of Hydropower Development, the permission of the Department of Power Development and the power purchase agreement of the Nepal Electricity Authority.
The Council of Ministers on June 9, 2016 had decided to allow the removal of 167 trees and plants on 6.46 hectares (4.75 hectares permanently and 1.71 hectares temporary) for the construction of physical infrastructure of Langtang River in the area of Langtang National Park. An agreement was signed between the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation, the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) and Multi Energy on July 30, 2016 to implement the decision.
In the writ, it was stated that a 10 MW hydropower project would be operated but it was later converted into a 20 MW project by the decision of the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation (Secretary level), the endangered wildlife inside the national park is on the verge of extinction and endangered species of plants and plants are on the verge of extinction. It was argued that the objective was completely defeated and the government’s decision to grant permission to generate hydropower within the core area of the reserve was malafide in a way that was completely against the strategy made by the government.
