Nepal's vice president refuses to take oath again

Nepal's vice president defied a court order to retake the oath of office in the official Nepali language by a Sunday deadline, saying the order violated people's right to chose their own language.

Street protests broke out last year after Paramananda Jha took the oath inHindi, and demonstrators called for a public apology. A rights activist filed suit, saying Jha had not followed the law.

The country's supreme court had given Jha until Sunday to retake the oath or lose his job.

It was not clear if he could continue as vice president. There was no immediate reaction frm the government or the supreme court.

"There is no basis to retake the oath," Jha told reporters Sunday. He said the court order was unconstitutional and violated the right of citizens to chose their own language.

Elected officials are required to take their oath either in Nepali or their ethnic lanuage, which in Jha's case is Maithali.

Jha said he had hoped that by taking his oath in Hindu - commonly spoken in neighboring India - it would secure official recognition in Nepal, where it is widely understood.

Jha said top officials, including the president and prime minister, had accepted his decison to take the oath in Hindi last year. The president and the prime minister have both said Jah must retake his oath.

Jha and the president were elected last year after the centuries-old monarchy was abolished and Nepal declared itself a republic.