Nepal’s two biggest parties are making scathing criticism of each other.

Senior coalition partner CPN-UML and the main opposition Nepali Congress, which is the largest party in the House of Representatives, have trained their guns on each other over the recent Supreme Court verdict on a multi-billion-rupee land swap scam.

After the Supreme Court on May 12 issued the full text of its verdict related to the Giri Bandhu Tea Estate, at the prime location of Birtamod in Jhapa, the Congress demanded an investigation into those involved in making the decision on the land swap.

Terming the court verdict as historic, Congress General Secretary Gagan Thapa posted a statement on social media on Tuesday, saying: “It has now been proven that the then government’s decision was wrong … Therefore, there should be further investigation against those involved.”

The Supreme Court on February 7 overturned the erstwhile KP Sharma Oli government's decision. On April 26, 2021, the Oli-led government allowed the use of the land exempting the ceiling for the deal. However, the constitutional bench, headed by Bishowambar Prasad Shrestha, ruled that Oli’s Cabinet decision contravened Section 12 (C) of the Land Act 1964 and was immature.

The court also ruled against allowing the Jhapa-based Giri Bandhu Tea Estate to swap land exceeding the legal ownership ceiling in any other place within Koshi Province, highlighting the legal implications of the land reforms.

The requirement to first examine the specific land’s detailed area has been upheld by the Supreme Court’s constitutional bench in the full text of the verdict. The land that is being considered for a swap ought to yield comparable value, read the court’s final verdict. But the tea estate is trying to swap its land in Birtamod, reportedly valued at Rs200 million per bigha, with low-price land in Prithvinagar, Jhapa.

While considering a swap, there must be a feasibility study to assess the new location’s production capacity. Technical experts’ advice ought to be followed in this context, reads the full text of the court.

“It [the court verdict] has not just confirmed how wrong and corrupt the decisions and law amendments made by the government of the time were, but has also exposed policy-level corruption. There is no longer any doubt that such a decision is unfair and ill-intended. Therefore, further investigation is warranted,” Thapa wrote.

When the Congress general secretary tried to bash the UML over the Giri Bandhu Tea Estate incident, UML chair Oli accused the Congress of selling 70 bighas of the estate in return for hefty commissions. Oli made the accusation while addressing the parliamentary party meeting of the UML on Wednesday.

“The Congress should be careful when commenting on the UML on the Giri Bandhu Tea Estate,” Oli said. “They once sold 51 bighas of land and later 19 bighas in the name of land swapping, just for commissions.”

When the government in 2018 tried to swap the Giri Bandhu land, the court stopped it, saying there were no legal provisions to do so. “Abiding by the court’s ruling, we later formulated the law, but the court now has found the fault with it,” Oli said.

The Congress has been cornering Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs Rabi Lamichhane over his involvement in the co-operatives funds’ embezzlement. With this agenda the party also has been disrupting Parliament. But the ruling party leaders accuse the Congress of being biassed against Lamichhane. And it is Oli and his CPN-UML party that has come to Lamichhane’s most resolute defence.

The Congress parliamentary party meeting on Tuesday decided to take up the issue of Giri Bandhu Tea Estate in a serious manner.

But Congress leaders deny that bringing up the tea estate issue is its calculated strategy to corner the ruling parties. “The parliamentary party meeting decided to take up this issue given the gravity of the matter. There is no ulterior motive,” Sanjay Gautam, a Congress lawmaker, told the Post. Meanwhile, Gautam also said the party will study Oli’s allegations against his party.

When the Oli government amended laws related to land-swapping, Thapa of the Congress, who demanded an investigation into the Oli Cabinet’s decision, was a House member. Not only Thapa but most senior Congress leaders were members of Parliament at the time of the amendment.

“Though one can question those involved in the law amendment on moral grounds, they cannot be held accountable on legal grounds,” Om Parkash Aryal, an advocate who was among those challenging the Oli government’s decision in the court, told the Post. “In such instances, it’s the government that makes such a decision which comes under the question.”

King Mahendra’s implementation of land reforms in 2021 BS, through enacting the Land Act 2021 BS, was a momentous step. The law fixed the ceiling of land possession by individuals at 28 bighas in Tarai districts. The land exceeding the ceiling would be nationalised.

Landlords close to the then royal palace were taken into confidence for the law’s implementation, and the palace made it clear that land used for industrial and agricultural purposes would not be nationalised.

According to Section 12 of the Land Act 2021, land used for industrial, agricultural, cooperative farming, educational, or medical purposes is not put under the limit.

Budhkaran Rajbanshi, a landlord in Jhapa considered close to the royal palace, was informed in prior that if he established a tea estate, the land beyond the ceiling would not be nationalised.

To save his land, he founded the Budhkaran Tea Estate there. Three additional Jhapa landlords, the Giri brothers (Prem Kumar Giri, Krishna Kumar Giri, and Trilochan Giri) also received similar information. In Birtamod, Jhapa, the Giri brothers owned 500 bighas.

Before the Land Reforms Act came into effect, the Giri brothers proceeded to register the Giri Bandhu Tea Estate in order to safeguard the property. Land reform laws introduced later did not apply to the land as it had already been used for agricultural purposes.