January 3: The hearing on the dispute of the 900-megawatt Upper Karnali Hydropower Project is now referred to the constitutional bench.    

Justices duo Kumar Regmi and Til Prasad Shrestha sent the case of the Upper Kanrali Hydropower Project to the constitutional bench citing concerns of constitutional interpretation.    

Justices Regmi and Shrestha sent the case to the constitutional bench after hearing the petition of the government on scrapping of the interim order that directed the government not to extend the term of the project.    

A meeting of the Council of Ministers on July 15, 2022 had decided to extend the term of the Indian company GMR for financial closure of the 900 MW Upper Karnali Hydropower Project by two years. But the local residents had lodged a writ petition at the Supreme Court challenging the government’s decision to give two more years for financial closure to GMR.    

After the initial hearing, the SC had issued an interim order directing the government not to extend the term of GMR for the financial closure. But the government had again filed a petition to vacate the court’s interim order.

The Upper Karnali Hydropower Project is a run-of-the-river hydropower project being developed on Karnali River in Daikehl district.

The project is supposed to supply power to Nepal, India, and Bangladesh for a contracted period of 25 years.

The Government of Nepal had awarded the project to GMR Upper Karnali Hydro Power Limited, a subsidiary of GMR Group India, under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in January 2008. As per the agreement, GMR was to develop the project on a build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) basis but has failed to expedite the project.