The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued an interlocutory interim order to the government not to implement a working procedure to dole out Rs200,000 each to the former Maoist combatants disqualified for integration into the Nepal Army for being underage or late recruits during the UN verification in 2007.

A single bench of Justice Kumar Regmi, hearing the writ petition filed by Gyanendra Aran among others, issued an interlocutory interim order not to implement the working procedure for the time being.

A Cabinet meeting on March 20 had decided to provide cash relief to the disqualified members of the Maoist fighting force.

The apex court has also issued a show cause order to the government and has summoned the writ petitioner and the government side on May 22 for a hearing on the interim order.

Advocate Kritinath Sharma Paudel, who pleaded on behalf of the petitioner, said that the bench of Justice Regmi has issued a short-term interim order not to implement the decision made by the government for the time being.

The Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government’s decision to dole out cash relief to disqualified former Maoist combatants has come under criticism even from human rights organisations and several political parties, including the ruling coalition partners.

Ruling Nepali Congress lawmakers have joined the main opposition CPN-UML and other parties in demanding that the government shelve the cash distribution plan.

Earlier, a similar attempt was stalled by the Supreme Court after the Baburam Bhattarai-led government decided to distribute Rs200,000 per head to the disqualified rebel fighters.

Among the 4,008 combatants rejected for integration, 2,973 were minors, while 1,035 were recruited after the first ceasefire of May 26, 2006—just six months before the peace deal was signed.

Of the around 19,000 Maoist fighters who qualified for integration, only around 1,400 chose to join the Nepal Army and the rest preferred voluntary retirement. The government provided between Rs500,000 and Rs800,000 each to those who chose voluntary retirement.