Nepal’s FM Radio Stations to Resume News Broadcasts

Excerpt from unattributed report by Nepalese newspaper Annapurna Post on 1 December

Kathmandu, 30 November: The Supreme Court [order] has opened the way for all FM radio stations to resume news broadcasts.

A division bench comprising Supreme Court Justices Anup Raj Sharma and Min Bahadur Rayamajhi on Wednesday [30 November] issued an interim order to the government not to implement the ban on FM radio stations airing news-related programmes, opening the way for news broadcasts.

The government had issued a prohibitory notice to the FM stations against broadcasting news-related programmes on 19 October.

Advocate Tulsi Ram Niraula had filed a writ petition against the ban on 28 October contending that the move was unconstitutional.

During the hearing held on Wednesday [30 November], advocates Subas Nemwang and Satish Krishna Kharel had demanded the issuance of an interim order arguing that the government’s prohibitory notice against news broadcasts was against the freedom for information as guaranteed by the constitution.