‘Enforcement of civil code a milestone for all citizens’

Kathmandu, August 18

Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Bhanubhakta Dhakal said the new civil and penal codes would bring major reforms in Nepal’s legal system.

Addressing an interaction organised by Japan International Cooperation Agency here today Dhakal said political parties had no differences on the contents of the two codes when they were enacted into law by the Parliament.

Nepali Congress lawmaker Radhe Shyam Adhikari, who had headed a Parliamentary  sub-committee that had finalised the draft of the civil code, said the civil code had incorporated general principles of civil laws and had defined legal and natural persons for the first time.

He said the Parliament dropped the will system in the last hour after women lawmakers launched a campaign against it, but in 20 years, society could demand the same provision and the Parliament would have to incorporate the same.

Adhikari said divorce law was more sympathetic to women which needed to be changed to do justice to men as well.

Registrar of the Supreme Court Mahendranath Upadhyay said the apex court had made full preparation to implement the new codes and had already prepared regulations and directives to implement the two laws.

Japan International Cooperation Agency Nepal issued a press release saying the enforcement of civil code and other four codes is a major milestone for all citizens and legal experts in Nepal and is a step to address such lacunas in Nepali laws and jurisprudence which not only consolidates the prevailing legal provisions but also introduces new provisions and update the laws to address the modern needs of the laws in international context.

JICA had established an Advisory Group in 2009 comprising jurists to support in the drafting of the civil code. Series of dialogues and seminars in Japan and Kathmandu were conducted to discuss issues of civil codes.  JICA said the comparative study of various legal systems and codes had helped diversify the new codes to address the current needs and ensure swift justice delivery in the future.

Three Japanese professors who assisted Nepali experts to draft civil codes Hiroshi Matsuo, Hiroyuki Kihara and Satoshi Minamikata also commented on the provisions of the new civil code.