The Supreme Court has ordered all district courts to adjudicate cases in time without delay as it goes against the right to a fair trial guaranteed by the constitution. An order of mandamus was issued by the apex court to the Kathmandu District Court and others on May 28 – whose full text was released on Wednesday – to decide on the case of petitioner Abadh Lal Shah, a resident of Kathmandu, within the next three months. Shah was arrested in December 2019 for fraudulently obtaining two citizenship certificates – one naturalised and the other by descent – on the same day from the Kathmandu District Office and also securing two passports with the intention of misusing them. The inmate has been stuck in jail in Kathmandu for the past three years and three months without a trial, which goes against a person's fundamental right to speedy justice. There must be many like Shah who are cooling their heels behind bars awaiting trial without either being convicted or sentenced. And in the case of Shah, he claims his detention any longer is illegal as he has already spent more time than the maximum jail term allowed for the crime committed. The district court, however, thinks otherwise.

The coronavirus pandemic could have been a reason for the sluggish adjudication of cases in the courts. The whole country was shut down in 2020 for months on end due to COVID-19, and this definitely delayed hearings in the courts. However, the lethargy of the courts in giving verdicts precedes the pandemic, leading to an alarming backlog of cases. Moreover, the delay seen in the appointment of the Chief Justice (CJ) in the Supreme Court, justices and judges also explains why the justice system moves so slow in the country. The apex court was without a CJ from February 13, 2022 until recently after a resolution was registered in the House of Representatives to impeach then CJ Cholendra Shumsher Rana. Many low-income inmates are also likely to spend years in prison before a trial because they cannot pay bail to get out. This is something for the courts to ponder over – how long should anyone be made to spend time in jail before being convicted if they have no money to post bail?

Nepal, however, is not the only country with a backlog of court cases, due to which inmates find themselves spending years in prison before a trial – highly developed countries such as the United States with a robust justice system too seem to face the same problem. Although it is gross injustice on the part of the victim, one cannot expect the courts to decide cases in haste as certain cases require extra hearings while judges too are under pressure to manage their packed calendars. Nonetheless, delivering a verdict without delay has its merits, apart from providing justice to the defendant. The sooner the cases are taken up, the more fresh evidence there is to prove the case. It also needs no mention that the prison system in Nepal is cash-strapped. There is a cost to housing an inmate in jail even for a day, and when he is there for years, the expenses only add up accordingly. The courts are also not only under-funded but also understaffed. If a solution could be found for these issues, we could see quicker justice delivery to the victim.

Power cuts in Tarai

The Tarai region has experienced scorching heat this time due to the delayed arrival of the monsoon. And unannounced power cuts for several hours in many Tarai districts have affected normal life, particularly in the rural areas. A report from Bara states that frequent power cuts for more than 50 times a day have forced the people to live under the scorching heat that reaches as high as 40 degrees Celsius in the daytime. Many industries set up in the district have also been operating below capacity due to the frequent power cuts. The farmers complain that they are unable to irrigate their paddy fields as they cannot pump out underground water as a result of the electricity outage.

In order to resolve this problem, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) needs to upgrade its transmission lines and sub-stations. NEA has drawn flak even from the power producers for not erecting the transmission lines in time. On the one hand, independent power producers have not been able to evacuate electricity in full capacity from their power plants, while the consumers on the other hand are at the receiving end owing to the poor distribution system. NEA should upgrade its distribution system so that energy can be better utilised for productive purposes.

A version of this article appears in the print on June 30, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.