KATHMANDU, Jan 30: The Ministry of Urban Development is arranging housing for the Supreme Court (SC) justices in Pulchowk, similar to the ministerial quarters.
The ministry has assigned this responsibility to the Federal Secretariat Construction and Management Office. This office has previously managed housing for the six most distinguished office-bearers’ post: the President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice, Speaker, Chairman of the National Assembly, and ministers.
Ganesh Karmacharya, Senior Division Engineer at the Management Office, said that the office has now begun managing the housing of judges in the same way it handles ministerial quarters. According to him, 17 employees, including plumbers and gardeners, are required to manage the justices’ quarters, as was the case with the former ministerial quarters. However, for now, only three employees have been assigned to the task.
The office is planning to recruit more staff next year. "We proposed to the Ministry of Finance to hire additional staff and allocate an extra budget if necessary to manage the judges' housing," said Karmacharya. "The Ministry of Finance has already committed to providing additional funds if required, and the Ministry has advised us to use existing staff for now while recruitment proceeds."
SC justices’ obsession with govt-provided residential quarters
An employee of the Office said that approximately two and a half months ago, the Supreme Court Administration sent a letter to the Federal Secretariat Construction and Management Office requesting that they manage the housing for the SC judges in Pulchowk. In response, the Ministry of Urban Development stated that managing the judges' housing would require additional staff and funds, which was not possible with the current budget. The SC then appealed to the Ministry of Finance, which subsequently requested the Office to handle the task and assured them that extra funding would be provided if necessary.
According to the employee, nearly Rs 30 million has been spent on repairing, cleaning, and furnishing the vacant quarters that ministers left behind when they moved to Bhaisepati. The Management Office covered this expense.
The Federal Secretariat’s employees have cleaned and repainted the old ministerial quarters to make them appropriate for use as the justices’ residence. Additionally, the office has provided furniture, television, and other necessary items from the old ministerial quarters.
Since the ministers moved to Bhaisepati, justices have begun relocating to the old ministerial residence in Pulchowk, which had been left vacant. The government had decided last year to provide official housing for Supreme Court judges.
The judges began moving into Pulchowk's government residence from Poush (mid-December). Prior to this, the judges had managed their own residences, with the government providing a lump sum rent for their housing.
When the 20 justices, excluding the Chief Justice, move into the Pulchowk residences, there will not be enough space for everyone in the current building. Therefore, a new building is being constructed for that purpose. An official residence for the Chief Justice is already available in Baluwatar. Currently, there are 16 active justices, so there will be enough residences for all SC justices.
So far, the government has been spending over Rs 100 million annually on managing housing for the six most distinguished office-bearers and ministers. If the government provides official housing for the judges, it will cost an additional Rs 20 million annually to manage and operate these residences.
The old ministerial residence spans 72 ropanis. All the ministers who once resided there have since moved to the new ministerial quarters in Bhaisepati. However, the formal inauguration of the new ministerial quarters has not yet taken place. A senior official from the Ministry of Urban Development mentioned that a decision on the formal inauguration is yet to be made.
