KATHMANDU, July 14: Compared to other courts across the country, the Kathmandu District Court sees the highest influx of service seekers and has nearly as many pending cases as the Supreme Court (SC). More than 25,000 cases are registered at this court annually, making it the busiest district court in the country.
More than 24,000 cases are pending at the SC. As of Sunday, a total of 25,397 cases remain undecided at the Kathmandu District Court alone. In the past year, 52,000 cases have been settled. However, the implementation of these verdicts poses an even greater challenge for the court.
This court is where individuals from across the country register their cases. Judge Kamal Prasad Pokharel says that since many people who initially reside in Kathmandu while filing the case later move elsewhere, it becomes difficult for the Kathmandu District Court to deliver timely verdicts. “Cases from all 77 districts are registered here. The Kathmandu District Court should be understood the same as Kathmandu valley,” he told journalists on Sunday.
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As of July 13, there are still 1,853 cases pending at this court that are over two years old. These long-pending cases make up 3.55 percent of the total. Judge Pokharel said that settlement of 50 percent of the total cases so far is a major achievement. "For the first time in history, the number of resolved cases has exceeded the number of new registrations,” he said. “We’re streamlining service delivery. It’s not exactly how we envisioned it, but we are making efforts to improve.” The court currently has 37 judges in service out of the sanctioned 43 positions.
In the past year, 2,742 couples registered their marriages through the court. Some cases also ended in reconciliation. Of the total cases referred for mediation, only 14 percent were successfully resolved. Out of 2,705 cases sent for mediation, 301 were settled, 384 remain ongoing, and 2,020 were returned to the bench without reconciliation.
Reconciliations are often seen in family dispute cases. According to court official Teertharaj Bhattarai, civil cases such as divorce, inheritance disputes, and fraud are among those that frequently reach settlements. Many of these cases are referred for mediation from the family bench. However, with the number of registered cases rising daily, the current court infrastructure is proving inadequate. The existing courthouse, built ten years ago, can no longer accommodate the growing caseload, and court operations are now being conducted from three separate buildings.
On verdict enforcement
At the Kathmandu District Court, sentences totaling 2,088 years and 6 months remain to be served, while fines amounting to NPR 8.17 billion are yet to be collected. Additionally, NPR 2.04 billion in government compensation remains outstanding.
Although victims receive immediate relief through the state’s compensation fund, recovering compensation directly from defendants remains a major hurdle. Of the Rs 4.412 million ordered by the court from 37 defendants, only Rs 1.3 million has been collected so far. This leaves Rs 3.065 million still unpaid, according to verdict enforcement officer Dhan Bahadur Karki.
Currently, more than eight thousand petitions for enforcement of judgments have been registered at the Kathmandu District Court. As the number of cases and judgments increases, the number of petitions for enforcement also rises, which has made the process difficult despite limited manpower.
In cases of cheque dishonor (bouncing), enforcement becomes challenging because the parties fail to submit property details. Moreover, issues such as demolishing occupied houses and dividing land inch by inch make it difficult to enforce judgments within the six-month period prescribed by law.
