Kathmandu, Feb. 27 -- In one of the first verdicts issued to resolve the long-pending row over jurisdictions between different tiers of government, the Supreme Court has ruled that the federal government must uphold the principle that Nepal's federalism is based on cooperation, coexistence, and coordination before enacting any federal laws.

Passing a verdict in a writ petition by the Madhesh Province against the federal parliament, the top court reminded Kathmandu that its interference in the executive authority of the provinces would be unconstitutional.

A Cabinet meeting of Madhesh on March 8, 2019, had decided to bring the Sagargath Forest Development Project, covering 13,132 hectares of land in Sarlahi, Mahottari, and Rautahat distr...