The Department of Tourism has stripped mountaineer Pemba Dorji Sherpa of his claim for being the fastest Everest summiteer.

In line with the Supreme Court’s verdict of November last year, the department has agreed to no longer recognise Pemba’s speed climb record.

A Guinness jury had bestowed Pemba with the title of fastest man to climb the world’s tallest peak, clocking an incredible time of 8 hours and 10 minutes— a claim contested by a team of mountaineers, led by Lakpa Gelu Sherpa.

Lakpa and his team had accused Pemba of presenting fake documents to win Guinness recognition.

On November 28, 2017, a division bench of Justice Cholendra Shamsher JBR and Justice Dambar Bahadur Shahi heard the case and ordered that Pemba be stripped of his record. The court cited that Pemba failed to produce substantial evidence to back his claim.

The department said in a statement on Sunday that Lakpa has been named the record holder for fastest Everest ascent.