Law Minister Proposes New Law for Effective Enforcement of Court Verdicts

Kathmandu. Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sobita Gautam has stated that a separate legal provision will be made for the effective implementation of court verdicts. Speaking at a meeting of the Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee held at Singha Durbar on Thursday, she clarified that the government feels the need for a separate law and institutional structure to address the problems seen in the implementation of verdicts. She said that the time has come to be serious about reducing the backlog of cases in courts and ending the gap seen in the implementation of verdicts. Stating that it is not natural for the implementation rate of court verdicts to be low, she emphasized that the government must be serious about working on this with high priority. She said that the public's trust in the judiciary is decreasing due to the ineffective implementation of verdicts. She pointed out the need to use information technology and establish inter-operability between the systems of various bodies to make the implementation of verdicts effective. In the meeting, Minister Gautam said, 'The biggest problem now is how to reduce the backlog of cases. The situation has arisen where we need to consider where the problems are occurring at the level of implementation of verdicts given by the courts.' Emphasizing the need to work with high priority on the implementation of verdicts, she added, 'The main problem now is the implementation gap. It is not natural for the verdicts given by the courts to be implemented at a very low rate. We need to think seriously about this.' Stating that the effective implementation of verdicts is necessary to ensure the right to justice, she said, 'It seems that the institutional framework for the implementation of verdicts needs to be created in a new way. If the verdicts are not implemented, how can the right to justice written in the constitution be ensured? Therefore, the situation requires us to pay the most attention to implementation.' Connecting it to federalism, she said, 'The government feels the need to make a separate law regarding the implementation of verdicts. Judicial committees at the local level are performing the work of justice dispensation. When verdicts do not reach the stage of implementation, the public's trust in the courts is decreasing.' Minister Gautam also expressed commitment to arrange for updating data through a digital system for the effective implementation of verdicts.