A dispute over plucking fruit from a Bodhichitta tree, also known as Ziziphus budhensis, in Ward No. 5 of Roshi Rural Municipality in Kavrepalanchowk district has been mitigated after Rs. 10.1 million was deposited for the purpose.
Owner of the tree Aite Theeng had reached an agreement with Nema Lama on September 23, 2018, to allow Lama pluck all the fruits from the tree in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Lama then transferred the agreement to his wife Jayanti Maiya Khadgi’s name allowing her to pluck the seeds.
As per the agreement, Khadgi had to pay Rs. 6.6 million to Theeng. However, despite the agreement with Khadgi, Theeng was found to have reached other agreements with other individuals as well. It had disallowed Khadgi to pluck the seeds as per the agreement.
Khadgi had then filed a case at the Kavrepalanchowk District Court against Theeng for disallowing her to collect the fruit despite an agreement.
On July 1, 2022, the district court issued an interim order and froze the land where the tree was located. Theeng had filed a petition seeking a decision to withdraw the freeze order. However, the court denied.
The bench of Justice Mahendra Raj Kafle, on July 1, 2022, gave an interlocutory order as per Section 156 of the National Penal Code and under the basis of agreement between Theeng and Lama.
Following the case, the court also directed the district administration, police and Roshi Rural Municipality to manage the problem with two party’s agreement citing that the tree and fruit could be damaged.
After the court order, Dawa Lama, a witness to Khadgi, deposited Rs. 10.1 million in the bank account of Roshi Rural Municipality on Sunday. Amid an all-party meeting on Friday, Theeng had claimed that the cost of the fruits was Rs. 1 million.
Security forces were deployed and the seeds were plucked from the Bodhichitta tree on Monday.
Source : TRN,
