All 5 revenue tribunals non-functional

KATHMANDU, July 7: All the five Revenue Tribunal (RT) offices located in different parts of the country have been dysfunctional for the last one year after their chiefs resigned, were promoted or got transferred to other offices.



The government had established the RT offices with the objective of taking care of cases related to revenue leakage or evasion, customs and various other disputes linked with business and commerce.[break]

 

‘It is true that all five RT offices have been unable to dispense justice due to lack of chairmen,’ admitted Jeevan Hari Adhikary, secretary of the Judicial Council (JC), adding, ‘However, the Kathmandu RT office is affected a lot more than the other offices.’ Adhikary added that they are serious about the problem and mulling to fill the vacant posts soon.



Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Pokhara, Nepalgunj and Butwal have RT offices. These offices look after cases related to revenue, customs and business and commerce within their respective zones.



‘The government has not been able to collect revenue through the settlement of disputes because of the lack of top officials at the RT offices, said a member of an RT office preferring anonymity.



None of the five offices has been settling cases. The existing law does not allow other members [working in the capacity of judges at the RT offices] to handle cases in the absence of the office chief. Each office comprises three members. As per the legal provision, an appellate court judge should be appointed as chairman of the RT office.

Revenue, finance and legal members are also appointed to the RT offices. The legal member is eligible to become chairman of the office.



According to data, there are 645 revenue related cases pending at the Kathmandu RT office. Kathamandu RT office has the largest number of revenue and business related cases. After Kathmandu, the Biratnagar office has the largest number of cases.



‘Our office has not been able to take vital decisions like passing final verdicts and we staffers are also without any work as the chairman of our office Gopal Parajuli was promoted an appellate court chief judge and subsequently transferred to Biratnagar Appellate Court,’ said Bhim Kumar Shrestha, Registrar of Kathmandu RT office.



In the absence of the chairman, the other two members can only issue general orders in the name of plaintiffs or defendants but cannot take key decisions or issue verdicts.



‘Both plaintiffs and defendants come and ask about the hearings dates for their cases,’ Shrestha said, ‘However, we cannot address their concerns as appointing chairmen at the RT offices falls under the jurisdiction of the JC and the government.’



As per constitutional and legal provisions, the government has to appoint the chairmen at the RT offices as per the recommendations of the JC. Asked about preparations in this regard, JC Secretary Adhikary said, ‘We will fill the vacant positions by July.’



Pokhara RT office has been without its chairman after Om Subedi was dismissed, Biratnagar RT office has had no chairman after Hari Bahadur Basnet resigned in the face of possible action by the JC, and Nepalgunj and Butwal RT offices are running without chiefs since both their chairmen were given compulsory retirement.

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