Kathmandu, February 14

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority to submit a written response on why it decided not to indict former prime ministers Madhav Kumar Nepal and Baburam Bhattarai for their alleged involvement in the notorious Baluwatar land scam.

Responding to a writ petition filed by senior advocate Bal Krishna Neupane, a single bench of Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher Rana told the anti-corruption constitutional body to submit the answer in the next 15 days.

Last week, the anti-corruption constitutional body had filed a case at the Special Court, naming 175 persons including three former ministers as defendants. While doing so, the commission had spared Nepal and Bhattarai stating it was not authorised to investigate policy decisions of the cabinet. However, the public and the opposition parties have been protesting the decision claiming it was politically biased.