Kathmandu: The Supreme Court has issued an interim order not to implement the provision brought by the government through the budget for the export of stone, ballast and other items from different districts of Nepal. The Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court issued the order on Friday.

The provision of point number 199 of the public information statement of the budget of 2078/089 should not be implemented until the writ petition is finalized.

A writ petition was filed in the Supreme Court against the government’s budget for ballast and stone extraction. An interim order has been issued by the Constitutional Court headed by Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher Rana on the writ petition. Judges Deepak Kumar Karki, Mira Khadka, Harikrishna Karki and Vishwambhar Prasad Shrestha were present in the Constitutional bench.

There was widespread protest saying that the plan brought by the government would exploit Nepal’s Chure. But the government has defended its plan, saying it was designed to reduce trade deficits by extracting stone ballast without exploiting it.