SC REFUSES TO REGISTER WRIT DEMANDING REINSTATEMENT OF 2047 CONSTITUTION Kathmandu, 22 June: The Supreme Court (SC) has refused to register a writ petition being filed, demanding the resurrection of constitution of 2047 B.S, RSS reports. Acting registrar at the SC Lohit Chandra Shah refused to register the writ being lodged by Bijendralal Joshi of Balaju, Kathmandu, reasoning that the latter had not mention how his constitutional and legal rights were violated by the existing constitution. Joshi had made Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Secretariat of Legislature-Parliament, Ministry of Law, Justice, Constituent Assembly and Federal Affairs and others as defendants. Nnnn ________________________________________ SC SHOW CAUSE ON POLICE TRANSFERS Kathmandu, 22 June: In a response to a writ petition filed seeking cancellation of the government´s June 18 decision to transfer high-ranking officers of the Nepal Police, the Supreme Court has issued a show cause order in the name of the defendant, RSS reports. A single bench of Justice Girish Chandra Lal on Thursday issued an order to this effect. In the order, the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the Home Ministry and the Nepal Police Headquarters have been asked to present before the court along with written replies within the next 15 days, giving special priority to the writ. Advocate Kamal Prasad Itahi had filed the writ at the SC against the government decision on transfer of the senior police officers. The writ has claimed that transfer of the high-ranking security officers in the context of the announcement of fresh elections to the Constituent Assembly for November 22 would directly affect the elections and was against the election code of conduct. The writ has named the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the Home Ministry and the police Headquarters the defendants. Nnnn ________________________________________ . ________________________________________ LABOUR OFFICE ATTEMPTS TO MEDIATE CASSINO DISPUPTE Kathmandu, 22 June : Casino Pokhara Grande that suddenly shut down the operations has refused to hold talks with the workers, dampening the prospect of early resumption of its operations, Manoj Adhikari writesin Republica from Pokhara. The casino management had closed down operations on Tuesday, citing labor problems. Workers of the Pokhara-based casinos had launched a strike a few days ago, asking the management to hike their salary by Rs 1,600 as published in the government´s gazette. However, the management has been maintaining silence, following which the Labor Office, Kaski, had picked up the case and invited both workers and the management for talks. Despite labor office´s mediation, the management on Tuesday shut down the casino, accusing workers of misbehaving with casino guests. Workers, on the other hand, have blamed the management of misusing money from the staff welfare fund. On Thursday, majority of the workers had approached the casino office to push the management for talks. However, they said they could not contact any of the officials. The Labor Office has issued a letter to the casino management asking it to come for talks on Monday. It has also sought clarification from the management for its sudden decision to shut down operations. “We have already issued a letter to the management, inviting it to come for talks with explanation behind its sudden decision,” said Rabi Bhatta, chief of the labor office. He told Republica that the office will convince the parties to hold discussions. The casino located on the premises of Pokhara Grande Hotel has 220 employees. Both the hotel and the casino are promoted by Kishor Silwal who is also operates Casino Rad and Casino Venus in Kathmandu. Naraj Bahadur Khadka of the All Nepal Hotel and Restaurant Workers´ Union (ANHRWU) that spearheaded the strike said they started the protest after the management increased the salary hotel workers only, and left the salary of casino workers unchanged. He said the union has also filed a case against the management at the Labor Office, accusing it of violating the Labor Act by illegally shutting down the casino. nnnn ________________________________________ ________________________________________ EC SEEKS CLARIFICATION FOR DEMOTION BY GOVT. OF NTV CHIEF Kathmandu, 22 June: Expressing serious concern over the demotion of the acting general manager of state-run Nepal Television (NTV), the Election Commission (EC) is all set to seek clarifications from the Ministry of Information and Communications, Gani Ansari writes in Republica. . A meeting of the EC´s code of conduct monitoring committee held on Thursday concluded that the government´s decision to demote Acting General Manager of NTV Deepalmani Dhital has breached the code of conduct enforced by the EC on June 7. "We will put forth our position regarding the issue at a full meeting of the EC tomorrow (Friday)," said Election Commissioner Ayodhi Prasad Yadav, who also heads the EC´s code of conduct monitoring committee. Sources at the EC said it will send a letter to the secretary at the information and communications ministry on Friday seeking details about the government´s decision to demote Dhital. Last week, the minister for information and communications had sought verbal clarifications from Dhital over a live broadcast of the mass rally of opposition parties on June 8 and the coverage of opposition protests against the government promulgating laws through ordinance. The cabinet meeting on Monday demoted Dhital. The EC on Tuesday had also directed the government to scrap a decision to transfer five additional inspector generals (AIGs) of police and 19 deputy inspector generals (DIGs). The commission on Friday will also discuss giving consent to the Nepal Army (NA) for transfers, deployment of NA personnel to United Nations peace missions and other matters. According to Yadav, the EC has issued various directives, acting on complaints and applications seeking its consent for transfers, tours abroad and other matters. "We have directed the organizations and officials concerned as per the nature of the issues. In some cases we have sought clarifications within three days, and also directed the cancellation of vacancy announcements, putting on hold of the publication of test results for various posts, and cancellation of some foreign visits by government officials," he added. Yadav said the EC has given its nod to some officials for attending international seminars for capacity building. "The Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) has sought our consent for setting up more colleges with a view of increasing the number of students. The EC has directed CTEVT to move ahead according to the procedures but we have not allowed them affiliations," he informed. According to EC officials, they have directed the cancellation of foreign visits by some government officials scheduled for around the time of the CA polls. nnnn ________________________________________ TELEVISION MODEL NISCHAL KARKI ALSO DETAINED WITH BINITA BARAL OF CHAPALI HEIGHT FAM Kathmandu, 22 June: Police arrested television model Nischal Karki and briefly detained actress Binita Baral last night [Wednesday] for allegedly harassing her Chapali Height co-star Raj Ghimire, The Himalayan Times reports from Lalitpur.. Ghimire had filed an FIR against Karki at the Metropolitan Police Range, Lalitpur, for harassing him and sending threats through Facebook. He also alleged Karki of defaming him with the backing of Baral, the actress of the film. Baral has risen to fame with her bold scenes in the movie. Though the complaint was filed against Karki, Baral was summoned to establish if she was also involved in the cyber crime, police said. Baral said she was in the police station to refute the charge against Karki whom she said was like her brother. According to Inspector Abadesh Bista, Baral was called to have her statement recorded and was released later on general date. However, Karki is still in the police custody. Ghimire claimed Baral was envious of his hectic schedule in movies following the success of Chapali Height and would often threaten him to ruin his career. Investigators said Ghimire and Baral are not in bad terms. Baral claimed that the accusation made against Karki was baseless. nnnn TRADE DEFICIT WIDENS: NRB KATHMANDU: Trade deficit has ballooned by Rs 37.52 billion in a month to Rs 322.12 billion, said the central bank, The Himalayan Times reports. . “The total trade deficit during the 10 months went up by 19.7 per cent to Rs 322.12 billion,” Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) said, adding that the total trade deficit during nine months was Rs 284.6 billion. Merchandise exports rose by 16.4 per cent to Rs 60.90 billion during the 10 months as compared to Rs 52.33 billion in the same period last fiscal year, whereas merchandise imports increased by 19.2 per cent to Rs 383.02 billion against Rs 321.34 billion during the 10 months of the last fiscal year, Nepal Rastra Bank’s data revealed. Similarly, trade deficit with India increased by 14.4 per cent as compared to a growth of 27.5 per cent during the same period of last fiscal year, whereas trade deficit with other countries increased by 30.7 per cent in contrast to a drop by 22.8 per cent during the same period a fiscal year ago. Lack of political and policy stability and prolonged hours of power crisis hit exporters hard pulling exports down and de-industrialising the country in the last one decade. Similarly, erosion of the country’s competitive strength due to high cost of production, transportation and labour also led to low exports that stood at Rs 60.90 billion, which is not enough to pay for the single import bill of petroleum products that stood at Rs 77.07 billion in the 10 months of the current fiscal year. However, workers’ remittance surged by 36.5 per cent to Rs 282.02 billion as compared to a growth of 10.8 per cent during the same period of last fiscal year due to the increasing outflow of Nepali migrant workers and rise in the price of the dollar against the rupee. Similarly, overall Balance of Payment (BoP) registered its highest ever surplus of Rs 100.10 billion as compared to a deficit of Rs 12.32 billion during the 10 months of the last fiscal year. Inflation up The regular increase in petroleum prices has started showing its impact as prices have started looking upwards, though the central bank has been rejecting the impact of the hike in petroleum prices on inflation. “The year-on-year inflation as measured by the consumer price index increased by 8.7 per cent in mid-May from 7.5 per cent in mid-April,” the central bank data revealed, adding that the index of food and beverage group and non-food and services group increased by 7.1 per cent and 10.1 per cent respectively. These indices had increased by 16 per cent and 4.2 per cent respectively in the same period of last fiscal year. The central bank attributed the hike in prices to the adverse impact on supply arising from strikes and bandhs. nnnn