A conclusion of the Global Corruption Report (GCR) 2007 of Transparency International (TI), released on May 24 worldwide, branded the Nepali judiciary as one of the most corrupt sectors in the country, adding that few steps have been taken to curb it. For many outsiders, it may come as something of a surprise, a revelation, but most certainly not for those at home who are somewhat familiar with it. This does not, however, mean that the members of the other government branches are any better. The reason it is particularly worrying is that the judiciary, being the last resort for justice, is supposed to correct or punish those who deviate from the right path. But when the dispensers of justice themselves are mired, quality of justice becomes the first casualty. And rule of law turns into something far inferior.

The prevalence of this evil in the judiciary can become even more dangerous, as bringing the judges to book is more difficult than punishing other government officials. For instance, attempts in the past at impeaching certain judges and chief justices of the Supreme Court fell through because the major political parties did not agree for reasons other than whether the accusations were impeachable or not, or owing to some unsavoury deal, say, between the Speaker and the Chief Justice recently to abort the impeachment recommendation by the Public Accounts Committee against those apex court judges implicated in the bank loan case of the Mahalaxmi Sugar Mills. Impunity leads to rampant spread of corruption or other evils. Globally, other South Asian countries also fare badly, though they are better or worse when compared with one another. One of the reasons sometimes advanced for the existence of corruption in government is the low salary scale.

If the country is one of the poorest in the world, the salaries and wages across the economy tend to be low, except in certain small pockets of economic endeavour. Most people outside do not take home as much as their counterparts in government. The current agitation by the teachers and employees of the private schools demanding pay at least equal to the government scales is a case in point. But corruption is also a habit of mind and a question of moral fibre of the individual concerned. It depends on the degree of cleanness of the system as a whole, as well as on how effective anti-corruption mechanism the country has. Well-off or high-salaried people also indulge in corruption, while many poor persons have chosen to remain untainted even when an opportunity for economic crime arises. How far and wide and deep the roots of financial corruption have sunk in the Nepali body politic, sometimes with international nexus, including in huge projects, and how their nefarious interests are entangled, sometimes come to light when an attempt is made by some maverick minister or other official to strike at it. But it is hardly a hopeful sign that even after Jana Andolan II, the government has not enlisted crackdown on corruption as a top priority as a matter of policy as well as of practice, except, of course in boring public speeches.