The Supreme Court in Nepal has ordered a halt to the recall of nearly a dozen ambassadors, a lawyer said yesterday, in a setback for Prime Minister Sushila Karki and her interim government.

Karki, a former chief justice who was appointed as the country's first woman leader in September after deadly anti-corruption protests, recalled 11 ambassadors to countries including China, the United States, Britain and Japan, who were appointed by her predecessor K P Sharma Oli.

In seeking the envoys' removal, the government said it was not satisfied with their performance.

"The government could not justify its charges against the ambassadors in the court," Ananta Raj Luitel, an independent lawyer who challenged Karki's decision, told Reuters.

Luitel said all ambassadors would continue to work as usual in their positions. Jagdish Kharel, minister for communications and information technology, said the government would "respect the order of the Supreme Court."

The 73-year-old Karki is tasked with holding fresh elections to the lower house of parliament by March 5 and has appointed a small cabinet of reform-minded figures with anti-corruption credentials.

Seventy-six people were killed and more than 1,300 injured during the protests in early September by the Gen Z movement, named for the age of its mainly young supporters.