The Supreme Court issued an interim order allowing the Gandaki Province to continue implementing its "Ride-Hailing (Regulation and Management) Rules 2025", rejecting calls for a suspension of the policy amid a legal dispute and nationwide transport unrest.

A division bench of Justice Til Prasad Shrestha and Mahesh Sharma Paudel on Tuesday ruled that the regulation should not be halted, noting that ride-sharing services serve the public interest. The court also issued a directive discouraging federal interference in matters under the sole jurisdiction of provincial governments, and instructed that essential services should not be disrupted by strikes.

“The interim order has come with the message that ride-sharing is in the public’s interest and should not be suspended,” said Chiranjii Sharma Paudel, chief attorney of Gandaki Province. He added that the court’s directive also called on stakeholders not to obstruct essential services.

The order comes in response to a writ petition filed on June 12 by advocate Jay Prasad Paudel, who argued that the federal government had unlawfully interfered with a provincial matter and that public transport strikes had deprived both service providers and consumers of access to services.

The petition named the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, and the transport ministries of all seven provinces, as well as the National Federation of Nepal Transport Entrepreneurs, as respondents.

Earlier this month, the office of the prime minister had requested the Gandaki government to suspend the regulation, citing a nationwide transport strike led by transport entrepreneurs opposing the policy. In response, the provincial government had agreed to temporarily halt the regulation after meetings between the chief minister, cabinet ministers, and a negotiation committee in Pokhara.

The Gandaki government had officially introduced the regulation through a gazette notice on May 15. It aimed to bring app-based transport services under legal oversight, ensure safety standards, and allow private vehicles to operate commercially under specific conditions. However, transport entrepreneurs strongly opposed it, claiming it contradicted federal law—particularly Section 8(2) of the Motor Vehicle and Transport Management Act, which restricts the commercial use of private vehicles.

In protest, public transport operators shut down services across major cities, including Kathmandu, Pokhara, and Bharatpur, sparking severe disruption and public outcry.

Critics of the strike and the demand to suspend the regulation have warned of a potential return to the long-standing syndicate system in Nepal’s transport sector, which ride-sharing services had started to challenge. They argue that instead of protecting entrenched interests, authorities should prioritise modernisation and liberalisation of transport policy.