Man convicted for attempt on CJ’s life

The News is quite straight. I have taken this news from Kantipur which has reported this news here. It seems that  the accused is not satisfied with the judgment and they have of course recourse to arrroach Appellate Court.

Kathmandu District Court on Sunday convicted one Prabhat Kumar Gupta of Birgunj on the charge of attempting to murder Chief Justice Kedar Prasad Giri.

Judge Shiva Narayan Yadav announced five years imprisonment for Gupta who “attacked” Giri with a knife at the latter’s residence at Ghattekulo on November 30, 2006. Giri, the senior most Justice then, survived the attack but sustained an injury on the thumb of his right hand.

But Gupta, in a statement to the parliament last September, had maintained that he entered the premises of Giri’s house to bribe him in a land related case. He further argued that Giri sustained injuries in a skirmish that followed after the former tried to record the conversation between him and Giri.

It may be recalled that the controversial Gupta case had featured prominently when Giri faced the parliamentary confirmation hearing for being nominated as Chief Justice in September last year. Parliamentarians had then questioned during the hearing whether Gupta would get justice after he became the Chief Justice. Giri had evaded the question saying that he would not comment on the case since it was being considered in the district court.

Gupta had staged fast-on-to-death, protesting Giri’s nomination as Chief Justice and demanded that  parliament disapprove his nomination.

Gupta’s lawyer Kedar Karki questioned the impartiality of the verdict today while announcing he would appeal against the verdict at the appellate court.

The Truth is Judiciary not Independent

The Judiciary of Nepal is not independent, is not effective and is not functioning properly. This is the truth with which all common Nepalese People were aware from long time. Now, it seems that even our judiciary has realised this fact, though bit late.

Kantipur reports here about this news. We just to hope to see effective judiciary in this country to make Democracy and Justice viable in Nepal.

The Supreme Court, while identifying its problems, has said the judiciary has not been independent, competent and effective at par with international standard.
The judiciary has not been as independent, competent and effective as it should be as per the principle of separation of power and universally accepted values,” the Supreme Court stated in its annual report made public on Sunday.
It further said the judiciary has been facing serious challenges in establishing a justice system as envisioned in the constitution.
The court, however, has not stated the reasons that have made the judiciary such a weak institution. But, it may be recalled that the judiciary has long been complaining against constitutional provisions requiring judges to face parliament before appointment and requiring the judiciary to present its report to the Prime Minister, who is head of the executive. Judges have maintained that the provisions have undermined the very principle of judicial independence.

Besides, the apex court has also complained that the judiciary has not featured in the national plan of the country with priority.

According to the report, there are 52,098 backlogs in all courts across the country. In the Supreme Court alone, there are 13,476 pending cases whereas the figure at the district courts is 30,819. Similarly, the backlogs at the appellate courts is 7,803.

Few Questions about PIL and SC Judgement

Few days ago, I had reported you a News on fine imposed on a lawyer by Supreme Court of Nepal for filing frivolous Public Interest Litigation (PIL). The judgment as reported in the media is a first of its kind in the legal history of Nepal. Today, in this article, I am trying to sum up what is PIL and how it works and some comments about the reported judgement.

PIL is a new concept in common law countries where the matter could be raised in court by only such person who has locus standi. The term locus standi is a Latin maxim and means “the right of a litigant to act or be heard”. It is a very important principle in the legal procedure and only those people who have been affected by alleged violation of law or right can raise the issue before a court. This is commonly accepted principle all over the world, otherwise, any person starts filing any case which he wishes and the whole process of justice delivery becomes redundant as judiciary, simply, will not be able to hear all such cases.

In developing country like India and Nepal, the concept of PIL has deviated from the old principle of locus standi. The credit to expand this principle mainly goes to Indian Judiciary in the decade of late 70s and 80s. The learned justices of Supreme Court of India felt that there are millions of masses who are uneducated and illiterate in India. These are the people who are simply ignorant of the process of law and justice delivery mechanisms prevalent in the country. In such a situation, they felt, the rigorous and stringent principle of law like concept of locus standi at all times will act as a deterrent of justice. So, they created the new concept of PIL (Public Interest Litigation) where any member of public can raise any issue before a court of law in case the alleged omission or acts of executives violates any fundamental rights of general public.

Justice P.N. Bhagwati of Indian Supreme Court, in the following words in the case of People’s Union for Democratic Rights vs. Union of India held,

Public interest litigation is brought before the court not for the purpose of enforcing the right of one individual against another as happens in the case of ordinary litigation, but it is intended to promote and vindicate [the] public interest which demands that violations of constitutional or legal rights of large number[s] of people who are poor, ignorant or in a socially or economically backward position should not go unnoticed and unredressed. No state has the right to tell its citizens that because a large number of cases of the rich are pending in our courts we will not help the poor to come to the courts for seeking justice until the staggering load of cases of people who can afford rich lawyers is disposed off.

That was a very bold attempt and any member-he can be general public, advocate, NGO, member of civil society, journalist, and legal researcher etc- can take the matter to Supreme Court and High Court acting in pro bono publico. There are plenty of Indian Cases where the weapon of PIL has been used to reform criminal justice, to guarantee fundamental rights, to secure humane living conditions, to reduce violence and sexual harassment etc.

So, PIL is a kind of tool to safeguard the rights of people which has been guaranteed by our constitution and can be used for enforcing the Fundamental Right, even of the common layman.

But, virtue and vices; merits and demerits are part of any system and process, and now, people are using PIL for fulfilling their personal gain, and for advancing their publicity and reputation.

The same situation is prevalent in Nepal as well. Nepalese Judiciary has also liberalized its stance on locus standi and unscrupulous elements are taking advantage of that. These days, the courts have to waste a lot of its precious time by dealing/disposing these frivolous PIL. And that is the reason Supreme Court of Nepal imposed monetary penalty on one of such advocates.

If we see Indian scenario, the trend of imposing penalty on such publicity oriented advocate is not new and time and again, the SC of India has imposed monetary penalty on the person who has filed such frivolous petition. Other Indian High Courts have followed the suit to impose find on petitioner though imprisonment to guilty has not been heard yet.

As reported in this website recently, the Supreme Court of India has tried to crack the whip on rising ‘frivolous’ and ‘bogus’ PIL where the SC said time has come for slapping a penalty of Rs. one lakh (In our Nepalese case, Rs. 5 was the penalty) to deter these litigants. The SC of India observed that these bogus petitions have become a ‘nuisance to the court.’

Let us see some of the observations of the Indian Supreme Court below:

“Litigation by way of PIL has become a “brahmashtra” and on all issues PILs are being filed consuming the judicial time needed for regular matters and the situation warranted a tough decision.”

PIL is no longer public interest litigation but has taken a shape of “private interest litigation, publicity interest litigation or paisa income litigation.”

“Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was for weaker section of society those who do not have money. However, it has become nuisance.”

One of the justices on the Bench, Justice Katju said,

“Time has come to curb the practice by imposing huge cost (Take note of this! Huge Cost) on petitioners for filing frivolous petitions which defeated the purpose for which it was evolved. There is a need for strict action otherwise people will not understand. Unless and until we impose penalty of Rs one lakh people will not stop filing frivolous PILs.”

These abovementioned remarks came during the hearing of a bunch of PILs seeking guidelines on premature release of convicts serving life sentence in various jails across the country.

But, bona fide litigants of our country have nothing to fear as the judgement in Nepal and India tries to deter only those whose motive is otherwise than serving public at large.

Now, let us go back to our Nepalese judgement.

The court said the decision to slap the fine on advocate Dhananjaya Khanal was taken on Wednesday to discourage those lawyers who bring PILs before it just for the sake of publicity. It further said that such litigations were wasting the court’s valuable time.

It is absolutely correct what the court has said. No one shall have any right to take the advantage of law in such a way that results an abuse of process of law. If SC has to spend a lot of its time on hearing these bogus petitions, genuine cases that are pending in SC can not be disposed in time. Our Judiciary is already overburdened and these kinds of petitions add the woe on common public.

Advocate Khanal had moved the court with a PIL seeking a court order on the government to give him all documents and treaties pertaining to bilateral relations between Nepal and India.

According to the court, Khanal did not specify what exactly he wanted when he sought such documents and treaties from the concerned government agencies.

Now, it is the duty of Advocate to prove that he is filing the petition for greater public interest and public at large will be benefited if SC passes the order as asked in the plaint. But, I doubt if that was the real motive of Advocate in the given case to serve the countrymen. I really wonder and get puzzled what greater service to the nation can be there if order was passed in favour of petitioner, i.e. a court order on the government to give him all documents and treaties pertaining to bilateral relations between Nepal and India.

So, it was a very valid case where an erring advocate has been penalized. At the time when Indian Courts are imposing fine to the amount of Lakh, the mere Rs. 5 as fine is of course, less than sufficient but it must have sent a clear signal to all those who were thinking to stifle the normal process of justice.

——————————————————————————————-

And Below mentioned are some of the links of Media which reports about various Supreme Court and High Court Judgements from India where these courts imposed fine on persons filing frivolous and vexatious petitions. One of the news shows that Rs. 5, 000 was the penalty imposed by Karnataka High Court long way back in 2002.

Links:

 

http://www.hinduonnet.com/2002/06/01/stories/2002060103860400.htm

http://www.hinduonnet.com/2004/03/15/stories/2004031502971500.htm

http://www.hinduonnet.com/2005/02/11/stories/2005021115710300.htm

http://www.hindu.com/2006/04/12/stories/2006041225550400.htm

http://www.hinduonnet.com/2004/03/15/stories/2004031502971500.htm

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20071003/nation.htm

 

Penalty imposed by SC for Publicity Interest Litigation

I found this piece in Kantipur. Supreme Court has done extremely well to slap a fine on those Advocates who work for the sake of being famous and in quest of their name in Media. I think the advocate has found his name in Nepalese Paper but for bad reason.

I wholeheartedly agree with what SC did but Rs. 5 is very very nominal amount. I understand that SC wanted to send a clear signal of what it will be doing in future if these kinds of activities are repeated by the same advocate or by any other advocates of that kind BUT still, the fine amount could be imposed more than that. The trend of the advocate to file frivolous and fabricated petitions must be discouraged in future as that does not serve any public interest/social interest. Well done SC!!!!

In the first case of its kind in the history of Nepal’s judiciary, the Supreme Court has fined a lawyer with Rs 5 on the charge of bringing what it called a “frivolous and publicity-oriented” public interest litigation (PIL) before it.

The court said the decision to slap the fine on advocate Dhananjaya Khanal was taken on Wednesday to discourage those lawyers who bring PILs before it just for the sake of publicity. It further said that such litigations were wasting the court’s valuable time.

“If we go on entertaining such type of frivolous and publicity-oriented writ petitions, the real litigants waiting for justice will suffer,” Justices Bal Ram KC and Gauri Dhakal said in a verdict slapping the fine.

“PILs are meant for public interest, not for publicity,” they said.

Advocate Khanal had moved the court with a PIL seeking a court order on the government to give him all documents and treaties pertaining to bilateral relations between Nepal and India.

According to the court, Khanal did not specify what exactly he wanted when he sought such documents and treaties from the concerned government agencies.

Though fines on litigants who bring frivolous petitions before courts is very common in India and other countries, it is the first time the court has fined a writ petitioner in Nepal on the charge, a Supreme Court judge said.

Co-spokesperson of the court Hemanta Rawal said the court has noticed in recent times an increasing trend of lawyers bringing frivolous writ petitions just for publicity.

“The court has been spending its time and resources on such writ petitions to date. But now, the bench has attempted to discourage such petitions,” Rawal said.

Judiciary should know its limits

I found this article written by Dr Trilochan Upreti in Kantipur. I do not know who the learned author is  but he has to say something about “judicial activism” v, “judicial restraint”. It is always interesting to talk about this topic. In India, it has always taken the centerstage and there are umpteen number of instances where our learned brothers at bar and bench express their opinions on either way. No one knows the limit of judicial activism as it is not that easy to fathom it. I have my few points to make on this topic and in this weekend, I will be commenting on this article. For that You need to keep on visiting my page. And the report goes here:

 

 

India’s judiciary has been known as an active and popular institution in protecting people’s rights, for which it has interpreted the constitution, law and jurisprudence in favor of the people. By the name of Public Interests Litigations (PILs), it has issued a range of orders/verdicts against the corporate house, government and other entities. The issues of judicial activism emerged and have largely been practiced by India’s Supreme Court since the time of PN Bhagawati as Chief Justice of India. But, since then, it has remained a moot issue in political and executive circles.Recently, a two-judge bench comprising justices AK Mathur and Markandeya Katju criticizing judicial activism, disapproved the tendency of courts to rule on issues like nursery admissions and auto-rickshaw drivers flecking commuters. The judges should know their limits and not try to run the government.

Further, the judges have been criticized for repeatedly coming across cases where they are unjustifiably trying to perform executive or legislative functions, which in their view, is clearly unconstitutional, and judges should not cross their limits and try to take over functions which belong to other organs of the state. They listed a number of local issues in which courts were involved like unauthorized schools, criteria for free seats in private schools, the size of speed breakers on Delhi roads and penalty, which, they said, were “matters pertaining to exclusively to the executive or legislative domain”.

For instance, the ruling calling for a trust vote on CCTV in Jharkhand state assembly or trial of strength between Jadambika Pal and Kalyan Singh to resolve the chief ministership issues in UP, the bench said that it was a case of constitutional breach, violating the separation of powers as mandated in the Constitution.

According to their interpretation, if there is a law, a judge can enforce it. But judges cannot create a law and seek to enforce it. “They (judges) must remember that judicial activism is not an unguided missile. Failure to bear this in mind would lead to chaos. Likewise, courts cannot create rights where none exist, nor can they go on making orders which are incapable of enforcement or violative of other laws of settled legal principle.”

This judgment has drawn public attention especially in political, legal, societal and judicial circles. The Times of India has written an editorial supporting the notion of the judgment. While leaders of popular national political parties have widely supported the verdict insisting on the grounds that the executive and legislature must be allowed to function freely and a minority felt that intervention of the courts was unavoidable as long as governance remained weak and was subject to political pressure. The confessional comments of the Supreme Court were music to the ears of the political brass.

PN Bhagawati, who had hard-pedaled the judicial innovation of PILs, who holds the view that PILs revolutionized the concept of justice, allowing any public spirited person to knock on the apex court’s doors, said that a fine line between the public good and private benefit had to be drawn by the court if independence of the judiciary was to be maintained. He further asserted that the poor and underprivileged sections of society are the ones who must benefit from judicial activism. For example, providing health care and medical assistance, cleaning of the Yamuna River, reducing pollution via CNG operating transport system in Delhi are clearly public welfare measures which became possible due to judicial intervention.

That is not the end of the story of the judgment, however. A similar case was referred to when the case of a larger bench by a two-judge bench considering the essence of the above judgment and a three-judge bench headed by the present chief justice took a stern stand on the observation on “judicial activism and overreach”, saying that “we are not bound by the two-judge bench order”. The intellectuality and level of knowledge of judges in Indian high courts and the Supreme Court is considered to be of world class with higher dignity and reputation.

The trust of the people is undisputed and huge in comparison to such name and fame in our own context. The judgments rendered in PILs have immensely benefited the larger population of India. For example, removing hundreds of polluting industries from New Delhi and Agra to save the world monuments like Taj Mahal were not possible through executive or legislative actions. At the same time, these judgments were fully complied with by the other two organs of the state.

One can consider the problem relating to polluting of the venerated Bagmati River and pollution level in the Kathmandu valley and wish that our Supreme Court could have done something about it.

Likewise, stakeholders of Nepal Telecom have been keeping trust on the Supreme Court on matters of safeguarding their interests in getting a fair and equitable share. Considering the failed effort of the recent past in respect of the political change after the April uprising, had the judiciary acted in favor of reinstatement of the House of Representatives, many people’s lives could have been prevented from loss and the nation wealth would have been protected from destruction.

People, who blame our judiciary unfairly forgetting the positive verdicts, are consistently blaming the judges for their inconsistent stand on freedom of the judiciary over the matter of accepting to take an oath before the public hearing system within the parliament. No single justice has shown his guts by challenging this unfair system by resigning, even though quite a few of them were reported in the press as having said that that they would rather quit than go to the parliament for oath.

Justices in the Supreme Court don’t even bother to resign or take leave a month before retirement, which is the standard practice prevailing in other countries. They would rather prefer to hear and decide the cases in a dubious manner even before retirement. All in all, there is also an allegation that even the sitting Chief Justice prefers to sit with the retiring justice in hearing complicated, mooted and infamous cases.

The state has provided enough economic benefits for ensuring their independence.

However, in return for their performance, the reputation and trust among the people at large has further eroded. Even the lawyers’ umbrella organization formally boycotted the bench across the country in protest against the judiciary’s involvement in corruption. The media has been consistently reporting the wrong-doings in the courts; civil society, parliamentarians and noted lawyers are blaming the eroding efficiency clouded with corrupt practices and unfair delivery of overall justice. If fifty percent of the allegations are true, it is a shame on our judiciary. People expect from the justices an example of cleanliness, efficient, studious and ethical behavior, which has not been seen in the country. Therefore, we need independent, capable, clean and efficient justices and judiciary, for which overhauling of the entire judiciary and addressing of the causes of the present day problems need to be researched and rectified as quickly as possible.

CJ stresses on media-judiciary interaction

This Blog post contains some of the recent legal news about Nepalese Law and its development. The first post is about the views expressed by Chief Justice of Nepal Supreme Court where he expressed his views that there should be more interaction between Judiciary and Media. This is indeed a welcome step on the light of some of the media publications in Nepal highlighting corruption in Judiciary. The Right to information of Nepalese people entitle every nepali citizen to know what is state doing including judiciary. Since right to information is part of right of freedom of speech and expression enshrined in our constitution, the steps that judiciary is taking must uphold the letters and spirits of constitution.

The News was published in Nepalnews and can be read here:

Chief Justice Kedar Prasad Giri has said Supreme Court would soon initiate projects to improve the relation between judiciary and media so as the deliver right information about decisions in court to the general people.

Addressing the inaugural session of reporting training on legal issues organised by Freedom Forum in the capital Wednesday, Giri said that regular interaction between media and judiciary was essential for promoting human rights and civil liberties in the transitional phase.

Former attorney general Badri Bahadur Karki said journalists writing news on legal issues have to be more responsible in disseminating correct information, adding that court reporting in Nepal has been minimal.

Former president of Nepal Bar Association Shambhu Thapa said the journalists must distinguish between legal and judicial aspects of the any verdicts given by the court while writing news.
Senior journalist Harihar Birahi, Gokul Pokhrel, president of Press Chautari Bal Krishna Chapagain, chairman of Freedom Forum Tara Nath Dahal highlighted the importance of court reporting in Nepal and necessity for improving the relation between media and judiciary.

There is one more news published in Kantipur about modernisation of Nepalese Judiciary.

You can read the news here:

SC gives more power to judges, legalizes IT use

A meeting of the Full Court, the apex policy making body of the judiciary, on Tuesday approved more power to chief judges of the appellate courts besides legalizing correspondence via the Internet for judicial purpose.The meeting took the decision to this effect by amending the existing Supreme Court and Appellate Court Regulations, according to Supreme Court Spokesperson Til Prasad Shrestha.

The meeting decided to give more power to the chief judges of the appellate courts so as to make the administration of justice more effective in the district courts under their respective jurisdiction.

Now the chief judges can regularly monitor, inspect and instruct the district courts under their respective jurisdiction, making the chief judges active and dynamic in their respective regions.

The amendments were introduced in view of the fact that the chief judges have been more dependent on the Supreme Court even for giving direction and monitoring and inspecting performance of the lower courts under their jurisdiction.

In the meantime, the Full Court also decided to include provisions in the Regulations, legalizing correspondence via the Internet for judicial purpose. Earlier, only correspondence via fax and post offices were considered authentic for judicial purpose.

Similarly, the Full Court also decided to give power to Chief Justice to designate judges for the proposed six commercial benches. Preparations are underway to establish commercial benches, Shrestha said.

Sharma to head CA court

This is a bit old news that we failed to publish earlier. Kantipur reports here that Justice Anup Raj Sharma will head the Constituent Assembly Election Court. This court is being created under Interim Constitution of Nepal and the jurisdiction of this court will be to hear any matters in relation to disputes that may arise in Constituent Assembly Election. We will be publishing the power and jurisdiction of CA Court in our another post and also about Justice Sharma.

 

The Judicial Council (JC) on Sunday recommended the government to appoint Supreme Court (SC) Justice Anup Raj Sharma as the chairman of the Constituent Assembly Court.

Similarly, JC recommended the name of Supreme Court Justices Tap Bahadur Magar and Ram Kumar Prasad Sah as the members of the court, according to JC Spokesperson Nahakul Subedi.

A meeting of JC headed by Chief Justice Kedar Prasad Giri took the decision on Sunday after the government requested the JC to recommend the judges for the court. The government told the JC that it is going to announce the inception of the court soon.

The Interim Constitution has provisioned that there will be a separate court to take up cases and crimes relating to the election to the Constituent Assembly.

Similarly, the JC has recommended the government to appoint Subedi, joint secretary at JC, as the registrar of the court.

In the meantime, the JC meeting also decided to allow the Election Commission (EC) to deploy 95 district judges, including 20 additional district judges, as the chief election officers across the country, according to Subedi. Likewise, a meeting of the Judicial Service Commission decided to allow the EC to use 240 officials under the judicial service in the upcoming election.

Tarai turmoil taxing judiciary

 

Here is a report of Kiran Chapagain from Kantipur where he writes how terai violence has affected the judiciary.

The ongoing political turmoil in the eastern Tarai has started to take a toll on the judiciary, obstructing and delaying court work.Judges and officials at courts of law in the most-affected Tarai districts – Bara, Parsa,

Rautahut, Saptari, Siraha, Dhanusha, Sarlahi and Mahottari — said that the conflict has badly affected court-related field work like mapping, serving of subpoenas, implementing verdicts and carrying out investigations.When contacted by the Post to inquire how courts have been impacted by the conflict in the

southern plains, some judges and courts officials said they are encountering difficulties dispensing justice independently as they face frequent threats by litigants acting under cover of the armed Tarai groups.”We have not been able to send hill-origin court staff into the field,” said Krishna Subedi,

chief administrator at Saptari District Court, “As a result, we have not been able to do judicial work on time.”The courts have now begun to rely solely on Madhesi staff for field work, according to

Subedi.However, it is risky even for Madhesi staff to be out alone in the field, says Surya Bahadur

Thapa, chief administrator at Dhanusha District Court. “So we send them out in a team. The team finishes its work at one place and moves on to another.”This, according to Thapa, is not an efficient way of doing things since it causes delay.

A judge from one of the districts said, on condition of anonymity, that the court has not

been able to implement its verdicts for the last three months as none of its staff is ready to go out into the field.The rising threats against hill-origin staff in the Tarai has left many courts severely under

-staffed. Siraha District Court has only 20 staffer as 32 others have gone on deputation in view of the prevailing insecurity.The absence of VDC secretaries from their respective postings, following the killings and

abduction of colleagues by armed groups, has also affected judicial work.”When tamiladars visit the villages to serve subpoenas they hardly ever find the VDC

secretary and this has affected court work,” said Balendra Rupakheti, judge at Mahottari District Court. The VDC secretary certifies that subpoenas have been served on the persons concerned. The presence of a VDC secretary is legally mandatory when a tamildar serves a subpoena.As law and order in the Tarai continues to deteriorate, Nepal Bar Association (NBA) on

Januray 25 submitted a memorandum to Chief Justice Kedar Prasad Giri drawing his attention to the problem.In an 11-point memorandum to the Chief Justice, NBA demanded that the situation at the

courts in the Tarai be taken seriously and arrangements made to ensure their smooth functioning.

Judges to Have More Power

Here is a report of Kiran Chapagain from Kantipur where he writes about some legal amendments in justice administration system. The report tells us that there is a process by which more power is being given to appellate court judges to handle the administration of justice in District Courts. We find this a commendable approach to keep the lower courts well within boundary of law and for the expeditious justice delivery.

The Supreme Court (SC) is set to make chief judges of appellate courts more powerful to make administration of justice more effective in appeal courts and the district courts under their respective jurisdiction. SC Registrar Dr Ram Krishna Timalsena said the amendments are being introduced in the existing Supreme Court and Appellate Court Regulations to incorporate the provisions giving more power to the chief judges. “We have proposed in the draft regulations that the chief judges can regularly monitor, inspect and instruct the courts under their respective jurisdiction, Dr Timalsena said. “The proposed provisions aim at making the appellate court chief judges active and dynamic in their respective region.” The move has been taken upon the realization that the chief judges have not been as active and dynamic as they should have been. Besides, they have been more dependent on the Supreme Court for any decision to give direction, and for monitoring and inspecting performance of the lower courts under their jurisdiction. Each appellate court has certain number of district courts under its jurisdiction. There are 16 appellate courts across the country, and the number of district courts under the jurisdiction of a particular appellate court varies. There are 75 district courts. The regulations will be effective after an endorsement by the Full Court, the apex policy-making body of the judiciary, which is headed by Chief Justice. In the meantime, efforts are underway to set up an IT section in each appellate court and district court in order to expedite the judiciary’s bid to inter-connect all the courts across the country, according to Dr Timalsena. The judiciary has planned to computerize all the courts across the country within next three years, according to Deepak Timalsena, IT chief of the Supreme Court

Tale of Two News

This post contains two news that were out on the same day. The first report is about the call for strengthening justice mechanism in Nepal and the second one is about a verdict handed out by Supreme Court of Nepal under Nepalese Trust Act. The exact location of the news on the web could not be located now. Both the reports are taken from Kantipur.

NBA tells CJ to iron out justice system

The office bearers of the Nepal Bar Association Friday called on Chief Justice Kedar Prasad Giri urging him not to issue any contradictory orders and to speed-up the case hearing process.A few days back, NBA representatives, expressing dissatisfaction over the justice system and activities like “hooliganism” inside the court premises, submitted an 11-point suggestion to the chief justice to give transparent verdicts in a swift manner.

On January 17, a group of people shouted slogans against the judges and tried to vandalise a Supreme Court bench while it was conducting a hearing on a case on Thursday.

Stating that a writ petition of the same subject has been treated with bias, the NBA representatives also suggested introducing a basic format while issuing interim orders and preemptive orders.

SC bans transactions in Rajguthi land

The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday put an end to transactions in Rajguthi land owned by the government trust known as Guthi Sansthan.In a ruling to the government, the Supreme Court said such a move was necessary to preserve Rajguthi lands, which are decreasing day by day.Generally, guthi land cannot be bought or sold. However, Rajguthi land can be bought or sold after it is converted into Raitan Numberi – land on which tax is paid by the tenant to the Guthi Sansthan.

The provisions in the Guthi Sansthan Act 1976 allowing the conversion of Rajguthi land into Raitan Numberi have been ruled null and void by the bench comprising Justices Ram Prasad Shrestha, Bal Ram KC and Damodar Prasad Sharma as these provisions violated people’s cultural and religious rights guaranteed by the Interim Constitution.

The bench issued the ruling in response to public interest litigation filed by Pro Public, an NGO. The litigation mentioned that the existing legal provisions had allowed rampant misuse of Rajguthi land and caused massive decrease in such lands.

The court also ordered the government to stop the practice of exchanging private Guthi land with other lands. At present, the practice of exchanging expensive Guthi land with less valuable land is prevalent. Consequently, expensive land owned by private Guthis is decreasing, according to the litigants.

Land owned by private Guthis is being misused in other ways as well. According to the litigation, Guthi land is being sold after creating a bank fund equivalent to the minimum price of the land. The court also ruled this practice illegal on Thursday.

The apex court also ordered the government to implement the recommendations of the Guthi Commission led by senior advocate Basanta Ram Bhandari. The commission had recommended to the government a number of ways to check irregularities in connection with Guthi land but none of them have been implemented yet.