SURKHET, Sept 18: It has been more than a year since the Deputy Mayor Shanti Chantel of Lekbesi Municipality in Surkhet district started handling the judicial committee of the local unit. However, she laments that she has not been able to perform her job effectively due to lack of legal awareness. Speaking at a program organized at the office of the chief attorney of the province in Birendranagar on Sunday, Chantel said, "I have enough knowledge of socio-political affairs but have no idea about legal issues."

According to her, the judicial committee needs experts who have all the knowledge regarding legal procedures. She says that the locals are losing trust on them due to the failure in delivering justice.

"During the elections, we assured the people to solve all their problems. Trusting our words, they elected us to these reputed posts. But, unfortunately, we are unable to live up to their expectations even if we want to," she laments.

Similarly, Deputy Mayor of Gurvakot Municipality, Maina BK, stated that delivering justice has been difficult in lack of sufficient manpower.

"The judicial committee needs officials who are aware about the legal rules and policies but there is no such provision in the local units," said BK.

Likewise, the vice-chairperson of Simta Rural Municipality, Chandra Shahi, says the new civil code has made it difficult for them to deliver justice. There are nine local units in Surkhet. However, only the capital of the province, Birendranagar, has been effectively delivering justice so far.

Mohanmaya Dhakal, coordinator of the judicial committee in Birendranagar, is a student of law. The municipality has also hired advocate Krishna Bahadur Hamal as legal advisor.

In a month, around 200 to 300 complaints are filed at the judicial committee of the municipality. But the case is completely different in the committees outside the provincial capital.

Barahatal Rural Municipality, which is an adjoining local unit to the capital, started solving the legal issues just two months ago.

Bidhyabhusan Manandhar, chief attorney of the province, informed that an interaction program was conducted for enhancing the skills and knowledge of the members of the judicial committees.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister of Karnali Province Mahendra Bahadur Shahi urged the members of the judicial committees to make people experience social justice within the next five years. He stressed that the government formed by the people must be devoted toward giving the best possible treatment to them.

Caption: Participants attend a program organized at the office of the chief attorney of Karnali Province.

 
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