Kathmandu, April 28: The Supreme Court has scrapped a provision that allowed former Presidents, Vice Presidents, and other senior ex-officials to receive government-funded medical treatment abroad, effectively ending a long-standing state privilege.
A constitutional bench led by Acting Chief Justice Sapana Pradhan Malla invalidated Section 12(1) of the “Citizen Relief, Compensation and Financial Assistance (Second Amendment) Procedure, 2073 BS.” That section had authorized public funds to cover the cost of overseas medical care for former top officeholders.
According to Supreme Court spokesperson Arjun Prasad Koirala, the ruling came while hearing a writ petition filed by advocates Radhika Chamlagain and Bhadraprasad (Swagat) Nepal. The court partially accepted their arguments and struck down the contested provision.
The bench included Acting Chief Justice Malla along with Justices Kumar Regmi, Manoj Kumar Sharma, Sharanga Subedi, and Abdul Aziz Musalman.
With this decision, former high-ranking state officials will no longer be eligible for taxpayer-funded treatment abroad.
Until now, the facility had been in practice under the procedural framework, even though the Public Health Service Act placed limits on such state expenditure. At the same time, the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Terms and Benefits Act had included provisions supporting medical coverage, creating a clear legal overlap and contradiction between the two laws of equal standing.
To resolve that inconsistency, the government introduced the procedural guideline in 2016 (2073 BS). The Supreme Court has now effectively dismantled that arrangement, closing the door on the practice.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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