The Supreme Court has issued an interim order directing the Asset Investigation Commission not to implement a public notice in which it interpreted the court's earlier interim order to mean that asset investigations could continue against everyone except former judges and former military officers.
The Supreme Court had previously ordered the commission not to seek asset details from anyone, conduct investigations, or recommend legal action. However, the commission later issued a notice interpreting that order as applying only to former judges, constitutional office holders, and former military officers.
Advocate Maniram Upadhyaya, founder of the Legal Innovation and Research Center, filed a writ petition on Tuesday seeking to annul the commission's notice, arguing that it arbitrarily misinterpreted the Supreme Court's interim order.
On Wednesday, a single bench of Justice Nripa Dhwaj Niraula issued an interim order directing the commission not to implement the notice, according to the Supreme Court's website.
Advocate Prem Raj Silwal, who argued the case, also confirmed that the interim order had been issued.
The commission had published the notice on Monday, stating that the Supreme Court's order did not prohibit it from collecting asset declarations and conducting investigations into politicians and other public officials. It argued that only individuals specifically protected under Article 239 of the Constitution – including certain constitutional office-bearers, former judges, and former Nepal Army officers – were exempt from its investigations.
Following the publication of the notice, Advocate Upadhyaya filed a petition seeking its annulment, while Advocate Silwal filed a separate petition accusing the commission of contempt of court.
The Supreme Court issued the interim order in response to Upadhyaya's petition. Meanwhile, Silwal's contempt petition has been scheduled for hearing on Thursday.
In the contempt petition, Silwal argued that the commission had completely misinterpreted the Supreme Court's order by selectively interpreting a single provision while ignoring the broader constitutional, legal, and contextual reasoning of the ruling. He claimed the notice was misleading and intended to allow the commission to continue its work despite the court's interim order.
The petition seeks legal action against the commission's chairperson and members, alleging that their actions amounted to contempt of court.
On Friday, the Supreme Court ordered the commission to immediately suspend all activities related to requiring asset declarations, examining submitted declarations, and recommending legal action against any individual for the time being.
The order was issued by a joint bench of Justices Tek Prasad Dhungana and Shreekanta Paudel in response to an earlier writ petition filed by Advocate Silwal challenging the legality of the commission itself.
The court directed that no individual be compelled to submit an asset declaration, any examination of already submitted asset declarations be suspended, and no recommendations for legal action be made against any individual until the final resolution of the case.
The court said that an interim order was necessary because requiring former judges and other constitutional office-bearers – who are outside the investigative jurisdiction of even the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), except in limited constitutional circumstances – to submit asset declarations could cause irreparable harm and conflict with the Constitution and existing laws.
Under the Constitution, the CIAA may investigate judges and constitutional office-bearers only in limited situations, such as after impeachment or lawful removal from office, and may investigate military personnel only under circumstances provided by the Army Act.
However, the commission, formed by the government on April 15, planned to examine the assets of these categories of officials as well, prompting the legal challenge.
The Supreme Court has granted priority to the case, ordering that it be listed for hearing before a full bench within 15 days because it involves important constitutional and legal questions.
The court has also asked the Nepal Bar Association and the Supreme Court Bar Association to each nominate two senior advocates to serve as amicus curiae (friends of the court).
The government established the five-member Asset Investigation Commission, chaired by former Supreme Court justice Rajendra Kumar Bhandari, to investigate the assets of individuals who have held high public office from the 2006 People's Movement through April 13, 2026.
Under its mandate, the commission is tasked with investigating the assets of prime ministers, ministers, Constituent Assembly members, federal and provincial lawmakers, province chiefs, chief ministers, provincial ministers, heads and deputy heads of local governments, former judges, former senior officers of the Nepal Army, former and serving secretaries and joint secretaries, attorneys general, chief attorneys, former and serving ambassadors, and other senior public officials in the first phase.
