Kathmandu, December 27
The government is preparing to re-start the distribution of embossed vehicle registration plates after the Supreme Court vacated its stay on the process.
The Supreme Court on December 13 vacated a stay order it issued on February 22, 2018, paving the way for the government to re-start the printing and distribution of number plates to replace hand-painted ones. “The decision paves the way for us to start distributing embossed number plates. We will start distribution after the Supreme Court publishes the full text of the verdict,” said Department of Transport Director-General Gogan Bahadur Hamal.
The Supreme Court issued a stay on the printing and distribution of the number plates two years ago after advocates Bharat Kumar Basnet and Rajan Burlakoti filed a writ petition saying that the number plates should be printed in Nepali, not in English. “We need to wait for the final text to see if it has made any recommendations that will alter the design of the plates,” added Hamal.
The court decision comes 42 months after the government signed an agreement with a Bangladeshi firm to print the plates. Authorities now have only 17 months to finish the job before the contract expires. The Bangladeshi firm, which has only printed 5,000 plates, will have to print 2.5 million number plates by May 30, 2021. Under the contract, the government has to provide heavy compensation to the firm if the job cannot be completed on time.
Comments
Post a Comment