A group of civil society members has taken serious exception to criticism and comments from the political level against the Supreme Court over its ruling on the Nijgadh International Airport.

The Supreme Court on May 26 halted the construction of the airport in Nijgadh over environmental concerns. The full text of the decision is yet to be released.

Issuing a statement on Friday, eight civil society members, including former Speaker Daman Nath Dhungana, former chief justice Anup Raj Sharma and former Supreme Court justice Balram KC, said attacking the judiciary over its ruling even before the full text is released is against the principle of the separation of powers.

They have also urged all to protect the dignity of the Supreme Court.

Politicians from across the political spectrum have hit out at the Supreme Court ever since its ruling against the airport construction, saying such a decision is against development and calling it judicial activism.

The civil society members have also said the International Relations Committee of the House of Representatives had intervened in the jurisdiction of the judiciary by directing the government to expedite the construction of the airport, describing the court’s order as unjustified.

“The directive from the House committee on May 30 has breached the jurisdiction of the judiciary,” reads the statement. “We urge everyone to be serious about performing the responsibility as based on the constitution and laws and refrain from any action targeted towards creating tussles between the state organs.”

The statement is undersigned by Kanak Mani Dixit, a journalist and writer Taranath Dahal, a journalist, Charan Prasai, a human rights activist, and advocates Gita Pathak Sangraula and Raju Prasad Chapagain, besides Dhungana, Sharma and KC.

Located 175 km south of Kathmandu, the proposed construction site lies adjacent to Parsa National Park, which is a forest corridor for big wildlife like tigers and elephants, and home to rich biodiversity. The entire area is blanketed in dense forests of Shorea robusta trees, also known as sal or sakhuwa.

The fate of the $3.45 billion Nijgadh International Airport had been hanging in the balance for years, with successive governments pushing for it and environmentalists resisting it equally fervently, citing massive damage to the environment, biodiversity, local communities and wildlife that the touted project would cause.

According to an environmental and social impact assessment carried out by the Tourism Ministry in February 2017, more than 2.4 million small and large trees would have to be felled to build the international airport, in three phases.

The government has poured more than Rs2 billion into the project so far. According to officials of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, nearly Rs800 million has been distributed as compensation to the project-affected people.

Last year, the Civil Aviation Authority spent Rs300 million to prepare a revised master plan for the airport.