Nepal, Feb. 9 -- In a landmark verdict on Wednesday, the Supreme Court overturned the decision made by the erstwhile KP Sharma Oli government to allow the Jhapa-based Giri Bandhu Tea Estate to swap land exceeding the legal ownership ceiling in any place within Koshi Province. The top court said the decision contravened Section 12 (c) of the Land Act 1964. The Oli government had in January 2020 revised the Act, inducting a provision to swap the land or sell it to pay the company's liabilities if it goes into liquidation.

This revision had violated an earlier provision that capped individual ownership of land at 28 bighas, including three bighas to build a residence. The exception to this ceiling was that if the land was used for industria...