KATHMANDU: The Special Court has rejected a request by former Prime Minister and CPN (Unified Socialist) Chair Madhav Kumar Nepal to appoint a legal representative in a corruption case filed against him.
A bench comprising Judges Tej Narayan Singh and Surendra Raj Sharma of the Special Court, Kathmandu, Panel No. 2, issued the order.
The court denied Nepal’s application to allow a proxy to appear in court on his behalf in a case related to irregularities in the transfer of government land in Kavre to a private entity for the operation of a Patanjali industry.
Nepal had argued that, due to his political engagements, he should be permitted to assign a representative to attend court proceedings. However, the court ruled that the defendant must appear personally and that such an arrangement, likened to appointing a “field hand”, was not permissible.
The case accuses Nepal, in his capacity as Prime Minister at the time, of facilitating the transfer of government land to private ownership, causing significant loss to the state. The government claims he directed concerned agencies to make decisions within a specified timeframe, enabling the transfer.
Citing Article 15(1)(a) of the Constitution, the court ruled that a representative cannot be appointed in cases carrying a potential sentence of more than three years. The charge under Section 3(1)(j) of the relevant law carries a penalty of 8 to 10 years in prison.
“Since the offense attributed to the defendant carries a potential sentence of more than three years, permission to appoint a representative cannot be granted under Section 95(1)(a) of the Criminal Procedure Code, 2017,” the court order stated.
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