Nepal PM Prachanda resigns

Kathmandu, May 24: Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' today resigned after a brief stint of nine months, honouring a power-sharing understanding with the ruling coalition partner Nepali Congress to hand over the country's leadership to the largest party in Parliament.

His resignation has cleared way for his former political rival and Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba, who is expected to take over as the prime minister.

Prachanda announced his resignation while addressing the nation in a live telecast from his office at Singha Durbar here. He said that he would go to the President's Office to submit his resignation today itself.

"I announce my resignation from the post of the prime minister today," the 62-year-old Maoist leader said as he highlighted the achievements made by his government.

The prime minister said that he has followed a balanced foreign policy and succeeded in normalising relations with the neighbours as well as building confidence.

It was Prachanda's second stint as the Prime Minister. He was elected as the 39th prime minister of Nepal after forging alliance with the Nepali Congress on August 3, 2016.

He is the only communist leader to become the Prime Minister of the country twice. During his first tenure as the prime minister from 2008 to 2009, Prachanda was not on good terms with India.

However, during his second tenure, Prachanda had chosen India as his first overseas destination rather than China.

Indo-Nepal ties, which were strained during Prachanda's predecessor K P Oli's regime, also improved under the Maoist leader's second stint.

Prachanda's successor Deuba's appointment is likely to be confirmed in a parliamentary vote within the next 10 days.

The Nepali Congress - the largest party in Parliament - and constituents of the United Democratic Madhesi Front, the Federal Alliance and some other parties had helped Prachanda in securing 363 votes in the 595-member House to form the government comfortably in 2016.

During the formation of the government, the Chairman of CPN (Maoist Centre) had reached an understanding with Deuba that he would step down as prime minister and hand over the leadership to the Nepali Congress after nine months.

The pact was to run the government on a rotational basis until elections to the parliament are held in February 2018.

Prachanda was to hold office till local polls are held and remaining two elections – provincial and central - were to be conducted under Deuba.

Millions of Nepalese on May 14 voted in the first local- level polls in two decades as the Himalayan nation took a crucial step towards cementing democracy amid political turmoil.

Local-level elections could not be held after 1997 largely as a result of the decade-long Maoist insurgency that claimed more than 16,000 lives in Nepal.

The elections should be held in every five years but due to the political instability, they were halted since May 1997.

Prachanda, who led the Maoists during the armed struggle from 1996 to 2006, is credited with transforming the rebel movement into a political party after a 2006 peace deal.

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‘Pay the worker before his sweat dries’: Madras High Court cites Prophet Muhammad’s teaching while ordering settlement of dues

News Network

December 21,2025

Invoking the teachings of Prophet Muhammad—“pay the worker before his sweat dries”—the Madras High Court has directed a municipal corporation to settle long-pending legal dues owed to a former counsel. The court observed that this principle reflects basic fairness and applies equally to labour and service-related disputes.

Justice G. R. Swaminathan made the observation while hearing a petition filed by advocate P. Thirumalai, who claimed that the Madurai City Municipal Corporation failed to pay him legal fees amounting to ₹13.05 lakh. Earlier, the High Court had asked the corporation to consider his representation. However, a later order rejected a major portion of his claim, prompting the present petition.

The court allowed Thirumalai to approach the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) and submit a list of cases in which he had appeared. It also directed the corporation to settle the verified fee bills within two months, without interest. The court noted that the petitioner had waited nearly 18 years before challenging the non-payment and that the corporation could not be fully blamed, as the fee bills were not submitted properly.

‘A Matter of Embarrassment’

Justice Swaminathan described it as a “matter of embarrassment” that the State has nearly a dozen Additional Advocate Generals. He observed that appointing too many law officers often leads to unnecessary allocation of work and frequent adjournments, as government counsel claim that senior officers are engaged elsewhere.

He expressed hope that such practices would end at least in the Madurai Bench of the High Court and added that Additional Advocate Generals should “turn a new leaf” from 2026 onwards.

‘Scandalously High Amounts’

While stating that the court cannot examine the exact fees paid to senior counsel or law officers, Justice Swaminathan stressed that good governance requires public funds to be used prudently. He expressed concern over the “scandalously high amounts” paid by government and quasi-government bodies to a few favoured law officers.

In contrast, the court noted that Thirumalai’s total claim was “a pittance” considering the large number of cases he had handled.

Background

Thirumalai served as the standing counsel for the Madurai City Municipal Corporation for more than 14 years, from 1992 to 2006. During this period, he represented the corporation in about 818 cases before the Madurai District Courts.

As the former counsel was unable to hire a clerk to obtain certified copies of judgments in all 818 cases, the court directed the District Legal Services Authority to collect the certified copies within two months. The court further ordered the corporation to bear the cost incurred by the DLSA and deduct that amount from the final settlement payable to the petitioner.

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