The Nepali Judiciary - Supreme Court Of Nepal

During the Plan period, although satisfactory achievements have not been achieved in the
Appellate Courts, there has been a reduction of responsibility by 0.8% each year during the Plan
period. Disposal of cases in the District Courts have not been uniform and there has been increase
in the backlog of cases. With regards to other courts and tribunals and in comparison to
registration of new cases in the first and second year there has been a decrease in the disposal of
cases but disposal of cases during the third and fourth year has been satisfactory. Although the
objective of all the courts and tribunals was to reduce the number of cases exceeding two years to
zero could not be achieved it can be observed that from among the total number of cases for the
first year 19.44% of cases exceeded two years wherein the said number was reduced to 16.17% in
the fourth year and as such there has been some reduction in the cases exceeding two years.
The Plan had envisaged disposing petitions made for execution of judgment within 6 months and
provided petitions could not be disposed within the prescribed period, the Plan had envisaged that
disposal of such petitions would not exceed one year and likewise the Plan had envisaged to
dispose 75% of the pending petitions at the rate of 15% each year. During the Plan period,
petitions regarding execution of decisions were nil in five District Courts whereas there were no
petitions regarding execution of decisions that exceeded one year in 17 courts. Although the
expected objective pursuant to the Plan was deemed to have been achieved, expected results
were not able to be achieved in District Courts that had excessive work load.
Under the supervision and monitoring function, the honorable justices of the Supreme Court vested
with the responsibility of carrying out supervision and monitoring of the Appellate Court and its
subordinate bodies. Other than in the second year, monitoring of majority of the courts has been
carried in other years. Likewise, in the area of court management, various studies and research
have been conducted.
Likewise, with regards to streamlining and strengthening the management capacity of the judiciary
which was one of the strategic interventions under the first Plan, a Court Organization and
Management Committee was constituted for the purpose of providing recommendations deemed
necessary. Pursuant to the recommendation made by the Committee, many of the posts have
been approved and fulfilled whereas some of the posts are in the process of being approved. With
regards to judicial autonomy, a separate Act regarding the terms of service for employees of the
judicial service has been drafted and submitted to the concerned authority. Likewise, a committee
on Financial and Judicial Autonomy was constituted with the purpose of increasing the
disbursement of budget and acquiring financial autonomy with regards to distribution and spending
of budget. The Committee had recommended that financial and administration autonomy of the
judiciary should be prescribed in the Constitution. Similarly, a committee had been constituted with
regards to acquiring autonomy in the area of donor assistance, wherein the said committee had
recommended for independent dealings with the donor communities and had also recommended
for acquiring assistance deemed necessary. A permanent committee has been established to
manage the assistance to be received from the donor community and in this regard a Financial
Management Committee has also been established.
Another strategic intervention under the first Plan was to develop infrastructure and logistical
support. For this purpose a Physical Infrastructure and Logistical Committee was constituted,
wherein the said committee had classified various courts under different categories and pursuant
to the categorization, the committee had determined standards for procurement of land and
buildings deemed necessary. Procurement of land and construction of buildings are being followed
pursuant to the recommendation made by the committee. During the Plan period, commendable
iii