The Supreme Court has issued an interim order in the name of the government to manufacture embossed number plates in the Devanagari script. A bench of Justices Kumar Regmi and Mahesh Sharma Poudel made the order on Sunday.

The Supreme Court has stayed the implementation of the work of making embossed number plates in English language as per the decision taken in the meeting of the thematic committee chaired by the Minister of Physical Infrastructure and Transport on 20 Shrawan 2082, as per the notification dated Bhadra 3 of the Department of Transport Management regarding the mandatory installation of embossed number plates.

‘An interim order has been issued in accordance with the Supreme Court Rules to not implement/not implement the decision taken under the chairmanship of the Minister on Bhadra 3 in the light of the constitutional and legal provisions,’ the Supreme Court order said.

The Supreme Court had delivered a verdict on the embossed number dispute on 27 Mangsir 2076. Before the verdict, there was a provision in Schedule 2, Point 12 of the Vehicle and Transport Management Act, 2049 BS that “Letters and numbers on embossed vehicle number plates shall be in English script,” but after that verdict, in 2080 Baisakh  The Supreme Court has issued an order to amend the 14th Act, stating that “the letters and numbers on embossed vehicle number plates shall be in Devanagari script or English script or a mixture of both scripts, as decided by the Government of Nepal.” (Nepal Gazette – Volume 73, Baisakh 14, 2080 BS, No. 3) The Supreme Court has issued an order to this effect.

However, after the Constitutional Court’s decision, the legal system was also amended and the situation changed, but the government issued an interim order to stop the writ petition filed alleging that it was going to install embossed numbers in English.

‘According to the amended legal system, the Devanagari script has been given first priority in the letters and numbers on embossed vehicle number plates, and the Language Commission has also decided to place electronic code numbers in Devanagari script in the Commission’s meeting on Bhadra 1, 2082 BS and has also drawn the attention of the Government of Nepal to it.’ It has been seen,' the order says, 'In this situation, the decision of 20th Shrawan should not be implemented even from the perspective of convenience and balance.'

Article 32 of the Constitution of Nepal guarantees the fundamental right to language and culture, Article 7, clause (1) provides that 'Nepali language written in Devanagari script shall be the language of official business of Nepal', Clause (3) of the same article states that 'Other matters related to language shall be as decided by the Government of Nepal on the recommendation of the Language Commission', and Clause (2) of Article 1 states that it is the duty of everyone to abide by the Constitution, the Supreme Court order says. Ram Bahadur Raut had filed a writ petition seeking a stay as the government was planning to produce embossed numbers only in English.