CAAN seeks clarification from Balendra Shah and two other municipal officials. KMC defiant, moves high court.

A dispute between the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) and the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) over a piece of land has escalated to a new level.

The dispute started after CAAN barred the KMC from developing a park for children and elderly on a piece of land at Sinamangal. Later, the municipal police led by its chief Raju Nath Pandey reached the area and removed the fencing wire on June 15.

“The mayor sent his municipal police in a ‘filmy style’, and cut the fence of the international airport,” said CAAN spokesman Gyanendra Bhul. “This is such a sensitive zone and the KMC has taken an irresponsible step without notifying us.”

CAAN officials claimed that the aviation body has 189 ropanis [1 ropani is 508.74 square metres] of land in its own name in the area and that the place near the airport cargo building where the KMC tore down the fence to make a park falls under plot 30 [in government land records] and is spread over 14 ana [1 ana is 31.8 square metres] of land.

However, KMC officials say CAAN raised this issue only after the metropolis issued a 35-day deadline to CAAN to submit a design of the under-construction building near the international airport at Sinamangal.

The City had published a notice on June 7 giving CAAN 35 days to register and pass the blueprint of the building.

The KMC officials alleged that the aviation authority has been indifferent to getting the blueprint approved.

“We still have time, and we will soon seek approval for the building design from the KMC, but the way the municipal police tore down the fence is totally unacceptable,” said Bhul.

On June 16, CAAN sent a letter to the mayor’s office seeking clarifications from Balendra Shah, ward 9 chair Ramji Bhandari and municipal police chief Pandey over the tearing-down of the fence.

“If the KMC doesn’t respond, we will be taking appropriate legal action against the mayor and his officials who were involved in the incident,” said Bhul.

In its letter to the KMC, CAAN has accused Shah of sending the municipal police to cut the fence of the Tribhuvan International Airport. “As your involvement is seen in the act, why should you not be punished under section 7 of Nepal Civil Aviation Authority Act, 1996, based on section 25 (1) of the Act,” reads the CAAN’s letter to the mayor.

Besides Shah, CAAN has also sought written clarification from municipal police chief Pandey and ward 9 chair Bhandari within a week from June 16.

Section 7 of the Act talks about prohibition, while section 25 mentions punishment of the offence.

“If anybody does anything regulated or prohibited by CAAN pursuant to Section 7 without obtaining prior permission from it or contrary to any terms, if any prescribed by the Authority in the course of granting permission, the Authority may subject such person to a fine up to fifty thousand rupees,” reads the section 25 of the Act.

Five days after CAAN sought clarification from them, Mayor Shah, ward chief Bhandari and Pandey moved the high court on Wednesday.

They have filed a writ petition at the Patan High Court demanding the invalidation of CAAN’s call for clarification. They have also asked the court to order CAAN not to create obstruction in KMC’s work.

The petition, filed on Wednesday, states that the aviation authority’s letter seeking clarification from them is invalid, unconstitutional and beyond its jurisdiction.

The petition, with the trio as plaintiffs, has named CAAN and its director general as defendants. It has also claimed that maintaining and protecting unoccupied lands, and developing recreational parks on such lands falls under the jurisdiction of the ward office, and the KMC, respectively, and demanded that the court order the defendants not to bar the KMC from working at the site.

“We request the court to order the defendants not to obstruct the park construction work being carried out by the metropolis on the land,” reads the notice.

The petitioners have also demanded an interim order for the same.

Bhoop Dev Shah, personal secretary to Mayor Shah, said the land occupied by nearly half a dozen squatters was cleared before deciding to develop a park there.

“It’s the KMC’s primary duty to protect public land, and we tried to convert the area into a park. But the authority fenced the area overnight even without informing the KMC,” said Shah.

Meanwhile ward 9 chair Bhandari told the Post that the area had long been neglected. “But when we tried to develop a park, the aviation body erected a fence there overnight,” he said.