Kathmandu, November 16

The Supreme Court today decided to extend its business hours by one hour from tomorrow.

The SC issued a press release saying it will start its hearings at 10:30am from tomorrow and continue them until half hour after the usual closure time.

Spokesperson for the SC Narayan Prasad Panthi said the extension of hearing hours would  help the apex court reduce the number of cases the apex court had to adjudicate. The SC has over 22,000 cases to adjudicate. Panthi said the SC decided to extend its business hours as there were only 20 justices at the SC and no provision for appointing additional justices as in the past.

“By extending business hours, the Supreme Court expects to reduce the number of cases and clear backlog,” he added.

The apex court said it had instructed the justices to start their duty at 9:30am from tomorrow and start hearing the cases from 10:30am. Until today,  justices started hearing at 11:00am. Panthi said the SC had made a provision whereby a justice would finalise between 9:30am and 10:30am written orders passed by justices the previous day and read files of the cases listed in the cause list of the day. “In some cases, the justices can finalise the written order only the next day,” Panthi said.

He said the SC revised its business hours after consulting Nepal Bar Association and other stakeholders.

The Supreme Court Regulation, 2017 states that the SC business hours will begin at 10:00am and end at 5:00pm from Sunday to Thursday and on Friday the business hour will begin at 10:00am and end at 4:00 pm. The regulation states that the chief justice can assign cases to benches during off-duty hours as well.