Labour court has asked the chairman and general manager of the Spacetime publications Bahadur Krishna Pamrakar and Jamim Shah respectively to appear before the court within a week to explain why action should not be taken against them on charges of contempt of court.

The order was in response to the writ petition filed by journalist Pradeep Ghimire. Three years ago, the court termed the termination of Ghimire from the publication as illegal and ordered for his re-recruitment. The publications denied reinstating Ghimire.

Freedom Forum, a media rights group, said this would be an exemplary case towards implementing the Working Journalist Act as government repeatedly commits to do so.