The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday issued stay order in the name of Nepal government not to impliment its decision to classify 140 kinds of information till 5 February 2012, and ordered defendants and plaintiffs to be present before it for a dicussion on whether the decision should be stayed until there is a final decision. A single bench of Justice Baidhyanath Upadhyaya issued the stay order in response to public interest litigation filed by the Democratic Lawyers´ Association. DLA moved the court, arguing that the recent classification of 140 kinds of information has curtailed the people´s right to information guaranted by the Interim Constitution and is against the RTI Act 2007. freedom1 Forum had called immergency meeting of civil society members and RTI activists last friday soon the desision of information clasclssification came into notice. Forum, being advocate for protection and promotion of right to information is happy with the court desision to protect citizen's right to information.
Freedom Forum is a prominent non-governmental organization in Nepal dedicated to institutionalizing democracy, protecting and promoting human rights, press freedom, freedom of expression, right to information, promoting audit accountability, open and accountable budget, public finance reforms, citizen engagement in public finance management and citizen participation in audit. Established in February 2005, the organization emerged in response to the political turmoil following Former King Gyanendra’s coup dated February 1, 2005, which imposed severe restrictions on media and democratic rights. A group of media professionals, legal experts, and academics founded Freedom Forum to safeguard Nepal’s hard-earned democratic freedoms during this repressive period.
