"Supreme Court orders government to use welfare fund to repatriate Nepali workers stranded abroad", 17 June 2020

The Supreme Court has issued an interim order to the government to use the foreign employment welfare fund to repatriate Nepali workers living abroad in highly vulnerable conditions.

The order is expected to provide relief for tens of thousands of migrant workers who have been stranded in several countries due to the Covid-19 pandemic and are unable to finance hefty chartered airfares to fly back home...

The bench has asked the government to immediately rescue the Nepalis who have gone for foreign employment with labour permits, as they have made contributions to the welfare fund. They have been stranded in various countries as international flights have been suspended since March 20, four days before Nepal imposed a complete lockdown, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The court ordered an immediate process to rescue them by a ‘judicious utilisation’ of funds. It also ordered discussions with the writ petitioner and all concerned stakeholders while formulating repatriation guidelines.

The ruling came in response to a petition alleging that the government’s executive order to repatriate Nepali nationals was against the legal provision of rescuing stranded workers who are unable to pay for their flight tickets...

...The Foreign Employment Act, 2007 clearly stipulates the criteria for mobilising the fund, explicitly taking into reference the situation of ‘return and repatriation’ of Nepali migrant workers as one of the conditions for mobilising the welfare fund.