The education volunteer had filed a petition at the court seeking a stay order on the road expansion drive claiming that the walls of his residence would be damaged. The court then directed not to demolish the boundary walls of his house on July 3. Along with John, three others had also filed similar cases claiming that the government had no right to demolish private property bought with an individual’s hard earned money.

A joint bench of Judges Prabha Basnet and Yuwaraj Subedi had given continuation to the stay order on July 14 until the closure of the case. Meanwhile, the sub-metropolis has also filed a petition at the Supreme Court seeking to overturn the verdict. Justice Damodar Prasad Sharma has, now, directed to come up with a verdict on the case within 15 days.

Following the court’s ruling, the road expansion drive, said to be the top most priority of the sub-metropolis, is in limbo.

The court ruling has affected hundreds of ongoing projects,” said Executive Officer of the sub-metropolis Jhalak Ram Adhikari, claiming that it would take a while before expansion work resumed.

According to treasurer, Shyam Shrestha, there are 80 houses in the section. “With the exception of five, all others have agreed to donate for the expansion drive,” Shrestha said. Shrestha claimed that the work on the road had been moving smoothly until the court obstruction.

Meanwhile, Adhikari expressed fear that the court’s verdict could act as a bad precedent for future projects.

According to sub-metropolis engineer Sharada Mohan Kafle, 349 projects under infrastructure development department of the sub-metropolis have been completed. Even with the sub-metropolis allocating its largest chunk to the expansion drive and the Council increasing funds in accordance, Kafle said that all the projects had to come to a halt.

The sub-metropolis has allocated Rs 292.9 million for infrastructure development this fiscal year.