Jajarkot, August 11

Justice delivery from the judicial committees formed at the local levels in Jajarkot has not been effective although a long time has passed after they were formed.

This has been attributed to lack of manpower and necessary physical infrastructure.

With the implementation of federalism, every municipality and rural municipality has a judicial committee under the coordination of the deputy chief of the local bodies. But such committees have failed to act effectively due to lack of manpower and legal expertise. Even the committee officials have admitted this.

Bheri Municipality Deputy Mayor Bhawana Bhandari lamented that lack of separate room had made it difficult to run proceedings. “For want of a separate room, we are compelled to hear complaints and hold discussions or other proceedings in our office, which compromises the privacy of the complainants,” she said.

Nalgad Municipality Deputy Mayor Bal Kumari Basnet raised the issues of manpower crunch in particular. “There are times when there are no complaints. As there isn’t enough manpower, we have to decide ourselves,” she said.

Shivalaya Rural Municipality Vice-chair Kumari Thapa said lack of legal knowledge among committee members and coordinators had hit the judicial committees. “Besides lack of manpower, infrastructure and the like, lack of expertise has made it difficult to perform our duty effectively,” said Thapa.