Tika R Pradhan

Kathmandu, March 16:

The number of applications seeking divorce has dropped significantly, thanks to bureaucratic hurdles faced at the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) office.

Last year, 56 cases were registered at the KMC’s Law and Case Division whereas the first eight months of the current fiscal year has seen only 12 applications.

Madhu Pandey who works at the concerned division said that a case can take at least four months if both the spouses turn up along with the divorce application. But it can linger for an entire year if it is the husband alone who wants the divorce. What the KMC does is recommend necessary steps to the District Court if it feels that the separation is inevitable. A series of discussions and a hearing takes a whole year. Cases are heard in the presence of the KMC head and the legal officer who heads the Law and Case Division in the presence of guardians and relatives who attend the sessions.

“Many people file applications merely to threaten their wives and they do not appear even once at the office after filing the case,” said Pandey. According to him, 40 per cent of the applicants do not appear later.