The Supreme Court has issued a writ of mandamus directing that Hitendra Dev Shakya be allowed to work as the managing director of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA).
On Monday, a bench of Justices Nahakul Subedi and Shreekanta Paudel ordered that Shakya be allowed to resume his duties as before.
“...The decision of September 21, 2025, and all actions and correspondence based on that decision are hereby quashed by this order of certiorari, and a mandamus is issued in the names of the defendants directing them to allow the petitioner (Hitendra Dev Shakya) to carry out his duties in the position of managing director of the Nepal Electricity Authority as before,” the order states.
On September 21, the government had removed Shakya from the post of managing director of NEA and appointed Manoj Silwal in his place. The Supreme Court declared this decision contrary to the principles of justice, noting that Shakya’s approval or consent was not sought when making the appointment.
Shakya was appointed managing director of NEA for a four-year term on March 24, 2025. Less than six months into his term, he was removed from the NEA and transferred to the Water and Energy Commission.
Kulman Ghising was appointed minister for energy in the interim government formed after the Gen Z movement. His first decision was to collect outstanding dues from industries operating trunk and dedicated electricity lines. To implement this ministerial decision, Shakya was preparing to call a meeting of the NEA board as soon as possible.
Having just returned to Nepal after attending official events in France and South Korea, Shakya had said that the board would soon hold a meeting and decide on steps to recover the dues.
“We will implement the minister’s decision regarding dues. The minister himself is the chair of the Authority. As soon as the board decides, we will begin collecting the dues. The board meeting will be held tomorrow or the day after,” Shakya had said.
But Ghising removed him from the NEA.
During the Gen Z protests on September 9, demonstrators also vandalized and burned Shakya’s house located near UN Park in Lalitpur.
