As many as 116,821 convicts, who will have to serve total jail term of 195,613 years, have been at large

Kathmandu, January 9

Judgment Execution Department of the Supreme Court has written to 29 government agencies urging them not to provide services to judgment debtors and absconding convicts.

Director General of Judgment Execution Department Gajendra Bahadur Singh said the new move initiated as per District Court Rules would help the JED collect fines from judgment debtors and force convicts to serve jail term.

As per JED data collected before mid-December, 116,821 convicts, who will have to serve total jail t e r m o f 195,613 years, have been absconding. JED also needs to collect Rs 14.95 billion fine from judg - ment debtors.

Singh said his office had written to government agencies urging them not to provide services to judgment debtors and absconding convicts as per the provisions of District Court Rules that provisioned such measures.

Singh said if a judgment debtor failed to pay fine to the government, s/he would not be able to instal electricity or receive drinking water service in her/his house.

“The spirit of the law is to compel judgment debtors to pay their fines. Civil liability is transferred to other members of the families who inherit the properties of the family members,” he said when asked if other members of judgment debtors’ families would suffer due to the new measures adopted by JED.

As per the new measures, an absconding officer can get travel document made by Nepali embassies abroad, but they would have to serve jail term in Nepal.

Asked if the new measures would be too harsh for judgment debtors and absconding convicts, Singh said it was the duty of all people to abide by the courts’ verdicts.

The offices that the JED asked to halt services to judgment debtors and absconding offenders include the ministries of foreign affairs, youth and sports, labour, employment and social security, urban development, communications and information technology, women, children and senior citizens, industries, comm e r c e a n d supplies, land management, cooperatives and poverty all e v i a t i o n , physical infrastructure and t r a n s p o r t , home, energy, water resources and irrigation, health and population and education, besides Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, land management and record department, Kathmandu district administration offices of Kathmandu,

Lalitpur and Bhaktapur, land revenue and land reform office of Dillibazar, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur, land revenue offices of Chabahil, Sankhu, Manmaiju, Tokha Sarswati and Kalanki, Kathmandu metropolis, all district courts and Passport Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

JED has launched special programme to execute court judgments in 24 districts. Singh said the results of execution of judgment in those districts were encouraging as there had been significant increase in the rate of judgment execution