KATHMANDU, May 19: The Supreme Court (SC) has prioritized and issued a show cause order in response to a writ petition that calls for distributing social security allowances based on need and poverty, not just age and ethnicity.
On Sunday, a single bench led by Justice Nahkul Subedi issued the order.
Advocate Bipana Sharma filed the writ petition on May 16, arguing that Nepal's economy can no longer sustain the growing number of social security beneficiaries.
Sharma said the government allocated nearly Rs 218 billion for the social security program in the current fiscal year, including about Rs 116 billion specifically for social security allowances.
She argued that the state should provide allowances—such as those for senior citizens, single women, and persons with disabilities—only to the poor. She urged the government to adopt a unified identification system to identify beneficiaries and exclude well-off individuals from the scheme.