The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Pushpa Kamal Dahal administration to stop the process of distributing money to the former Maoist combatants who were disqualified in the United Nations verification process.

Since taking charge earlier this year, the Dahal government has been attempting to provide Rs200,000 each to around 4000 former Maoist combatants. Last month the government endorsed a working procedure to provide the money and had started a process to short-list the beneficiaries.

The Supreme Court’s interim order came in response to a writ petition by advocate Gyanendra Aran, who challenged the government’s plan.

After a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, a single bench of Justice Kumar Regmi issued an interlocutory interim order against the government to halt the process. “The court has directed the government to stop all the process related to the disbursement of money until another order,” Aran told Post. It has called both the sides on May 22 for the further hearing.

Among the 4,008 combatants rejected for integration in the UN verification process, 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. However, the disqualified combatants didn’t get compensation except some pocket money.

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.