The Supreme Court has issued an interim order to defendants to put the standard guidelines for shelving the complaints on hold until court’s next order.

A single bench of Justice Hari Krishna Karki on Thursday issued the stay order to the defendants—Office of the Prime Minister

and Council of Ministers, Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction and TRC Chairmain Surya Kiran Gurung—asking them to furnish reasons for putting up the guidelines.

The court will take a decision on the issue only after hearing the both sides. However, it has not set the date for the next hearing on the writ. The order is likely to affect the commission’s plan to start a formal investigation into complaints after Dashain. The commission has so far catalogued only half of the 54,000 complaints.

Petitioners—10 victims who suffered at the hands of the former rebel Maoists and five victimised by the state—have argued that the criteria would exclude a significant number of complaints from the investigation process, depriving them of their rights to justice.

They argued that the criteria excludes those who were extorted, forced to leave their profession, child soldiers, and those who were used as human shields in crossfire. Land seizure and displacement also do not fall under the criteria of investigation according to the guidelines.