24 Jan, 2022
Bhairahawa, Jan. 24: The process of justice execution has become effective after the formation of judicial committees in local levels of Rupandehi district.
As many disputes are being resolved at the local levels without going to the court, the flow of cases in the court has also reduced.
The judicial committees also claim that it is easier for the parties in dispute to get their issues resolved at local levels.
Article 217 of the Constitution of Nepal has provisioned that the judicial committees established at local levels can exercise their powers to hear cases
After the election of local representatives, the local levels are executing justice as per the Constitution and Local Level Operation Act, 2017.
The judicial committee of Siddharthanagar Municipality, which hears cases relating to land disputes, drainage disputes and assaults among others, has informed that the dispute resolution was effective.
Uma Kafle, deputy mayor of the municipality and coordinator of the judicial committee, said, “Of the 50 cases registered in the municipality until mid-January of the current Fiscal Year, 35 cases were already resolved.”
Similarly, Siyari Rural Municipality of Rupandehi has also claimed that the justice delivery process was being carried out effectively by its judicial committee.
“As cases are resolved and justice is served without having to visit the court, local administration, and the police, justice has been accessible to all victims in a simpler, easier, and faster way,” said vice chairperson of the municipality and coordinator of the committee Amrita Gurung.
The department of justice said that the committee was hearing cases relating to the encroachment of land, disputes between neighbours, family issues, divorce, harm to crops or livestock, drainage issues, assault, partition dispute, defamation, theft, transactions, and many more.
In the Fiscal Year 2020/2021, a total of 85 cases were registered in the committee. Similarly, until mid-January of the current Fiscal Year, a total of 40 cases have been registered of which, 24 cases have already been resolved.
Chiranjibi Gautam, an official at the department of justice in the Rural Municipality, said, “As the trend of visiting the court for petty disputes has ended, the establishment of judicial committees at local levels has reduced the burden of the court to a greater extent.”
He said that the local levels could resolve the disputes or carry out mediation between the parties in a rift in lesser time with the use of limited resources.
Currently, the judicial committees of all 753 local levels and mediation centres of all wards are providing alternative dispute resolution facilities. Rising Nepal