The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday issued an order directing the Department of Archaeology to conduct the study of historic Bagh Durbar once again and submit the report to the court.

Conducting a hearing on the writ filed by Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) to scrap the earlier directive to not demolish the historic Bagh Durbar that suffered damage in the earthquake of April 25, 2015, a joint bench of Chief Justice Om Prakash Mishra and Justice Anil Kumar Sinha issued the order to carry out the study by deploying a team of independent experts.

Heritage conservation activists had moved the SC after the KMC started preparation to demolish Bagh Durbar despite criticism from various quarters.

Earlier on October 3, a single bench of SC Justice Deepak Raj Joshee had issued an order in the name of defendants to not demolish Bagh Durbar which has historical and archeological importance.

Senior advocates Prakash Mani Sharma and Rama Panta Kharel and Sanjay Adhikari, student at the Kathmandu Law Campus, coordinator of Heritage Conservation Campaign Struggle Committee Coordinator Ganapati Lal Shrestha had filed a writ seeking an interim order to immediately stop the KMC’s preparation to demolish Bagh Durbar.

In the writ, the petitioners have also demanded the apex court to issue order to protect all the historic palaces of different era including Lichhavi, Malla, Rana and Shah.

KMC Mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya, Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Home Ministry, Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Ministry of Forest and Environment, National Human Rights Commission, National Reconstruction Authority, Archeological Department, Office of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, KMC ward no 11 and Office of the Attorney General were made defendants in the case.

The KMC had moved the Supreme Court to scrap the same order.