The Supreme Court has ordered the revocation of the government's decision to declare a public holiday on 'People's War Day,' observed on Fagun 1.
This decision came in response to a writ petition filed by advocate Gyanendra Raj Aran, challenging the Council of Ministers' declaration of Fagun 1 as a public holiday. The division bench, comprising Anand Mohan Bhattarai and Mahesh Sharma Poudel, nullified the decision through a certiorari order.
According to the court, "The peace process and transitional justice issues have not reached a conclusion, and a relevant bill is under consideration in the House. The decision to announce a public holiday without discussion in the sovereign parliament is hereby nullified through a certiorari order, as per the preamble of the Constitution."
The People's War is another name for the Nepalese Civil War.
The Nepalese Civil War was an armed conflict that took place in the former Kingdom of Nepal from 1996 to 2006. It saw countrywide fighting between the Nepalese royal government and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). The conflict began on February 13th 1996, when the Communist Party of Nepal initiated an insurgency with the stated purpose of overthrowing the Nepalese monarchy and establishing a people's republic; it ended with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Accord on November 21st 2006.
The first day of Falgun is annually celebrated as the People’s War Day by the CPN (Maoist Centre), the former insurgent group that now leads the current government.
With the announcement of the public holiday in 2023, this is the first time that the federal government announced a holiday to commemorate the decade-long armed conflict that began in 1996.
