The Supreme Court has issued an interim order against continuation of the controversial Constituency Infrastructure Special Programme (CISP) and the Constituency Development Programme (CDP).

With the ruling, disbursement of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) worth around Rs10 billion to 240 retired lawmakers will be halted. The Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government had faced mounting criticism for its decision to continue with the CDF even after election of new parliamentarians.

A division bench of SC Justices Ishwor Prasad Khatiwada and Sharada Prasad Ghimire issued the interim order to the government on Sunday to suspend both the programmes.

Jhapat Bahadur Rawal, member-elect for federal parliament from Kailali-2, had filed a writ petition at the SC on January 8 demanding a halt to the programme.

Rawal argued that the government would suffer irreparable losses if the court did not issue an interim order at a time the 240 constituencies have been redrawn into 165.

The “caretaker” government had decided to continue with the programmes as suggested by the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs on December 28.

On December 31, the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development issued a letter to all the district technical offices to implement both the programmes despite the Election Commission’s notice to cancel the projects.

The EC asked the government on October 30 to cancel all the projects under the CISP and the CDP, arguing that retired lawmakers cannot carry out programmes meant for incumbent MPs.

Of the Rs10 billion allocated under the two programmes in total, Rs30 million was released to each constituency for projects under the CISP and Rs5 million each to lawmakers to implement projects under the CDP.