Kathmandu, February 21

Ambassador of Japan to Nepal Masashi Ogawa today signed a grant contract to set up mediation centres in three courts in the Valley.

A mediation centre will be set up at the Patan High Court, and one each at Lalitpur District Court and Bhaktapur District Court for improvement of legal services to socially and economically disadvantaged citizens. The agreement was signed between the Embassy of Japan and Sher Bahadur KC, president of Nepal Bar Association. The grant assistance amounts to USD 38,388 (approximately Rs 3.9 million). The grant will support establishment of three mediation centres in the compounds of Patan High Court, Lalitpur District Court, and Bhaktapur District Court. The centres will provide free mediation services to community people who cannot afford legal services.

Furthermore, these mediation centres will also improve the efficiency of legal assistance to the communities. In the increasingly populated urban cities in Nepal, sometimes people have to wait for several months to receive legal services from courts.

The mediation centres that will be established next to the courts will offer legal advice by professional lawyers so that simple civil cases can be settled before going to courts, read a press release issued by the embassy.