A division bench of Justice Cholendra Sumsher JB Rana and Dambar Bahadur Shah issued a verdict to quash the government decision to saying that Pemba Dorje Sherpa of Rolwaling,Dolakha failed to produce the substantial proof to authenticate his claim of climbing the world’s highest peak in eight hours and 10 minutes on 21 May 2004.

A Sherpa climber who holds the Guinness World Record in the Mt Everest climbing for 13 years is all set to lose his title after the Supreme Court invalidated the claims which he submitted to the government authorities while obtaining a summit certificate.

The apex court issued an order for the annulment of the fastest Mt Everest ascent maintained in the name of Pemba Dorje in the government record after another climber Lakpa Gelu Sherpa who also claimed the summit record with a time of 10 hours and 56 minutes in 2003, challenged Pemba Dorje’s 2004 ascent to be the fastest Mt Everest climber.

According to The Himalayan Times, the SC also found that the mountaineering division under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation issued a summit certificate to Sherpa without verifying the necessary evidence as per the Tourism Act and the Mountaineering Regulation.

Senior advocates Hari Shankar Niraula and Bhairab Raj Pant pleaded for the petitioner while deputy attorney Kiran Poudel defended the government move before the court.

The summit time is generally counted once a climber leaves from the base camp for the summit and back. Many veteran climbers considered that climbing Mt Everest in 8 or 10 hours was a mere joke. There were no liaison officer’s report as well as the photographic evidence which showed that Sherpa was at the top of Mt Everest within the stated timeframe, SC order stated.

 “The Department of Tourism will act as per the court ruling,” DOT’s director general Dinesh Bhattarai said, “The DoT has not formally received the court order.”