a writ petition has been filed in Nepal's Supreme Court against the ratification of the controversial Mahakali treaty which was approved by the joint session of the Nepalese Parliament in September this year. Five individuals including lawyers and journalists have jointly filed the petition urging the court to invalidate the Mahakali treaty, claiming that the Nepal-India Integrated Development Treaty on the Mahakali river, signed by the two countries in February this year, was unconstitutional. The first hearing of the case is to take place on December 4.

A systematic campaign has been launched against the treaty by a number of ngo s who term the project as disastrous for Nepal. The Supreme Court petition is part of the campaign ( Down To Earth , Vol 5, No 11). It is alleged that mega-dams including Pancheshwar, that will be built as part of Mahakali treaty in ecologically fragile and earthquake-prone Himalaya, will bring both environmental and social disaster to the region. Going ahead with the huge 6,480 mw project without complete studies and action plans can only bring untold misery on all concerned, feel the anti-treaty protesters.