Hosting Russian CJ may cost a milllion

Kathmandu, March 15- Consider this itinerary: Day one Arrival and visit to Swoyambhunath Stupa. Day two - visit to Bhaktapur Nagarkot and Hanuman Dhoka, Day three: Visit to Lalitpur District Court and Patan Appellate Court, Patan Durbar Square and the Supreme Court and visit to the Royal Palace for royal audience. Day four : Meeting with Speaker Tara Nath Ranabhat and finally departure.

The itinerary appears more that of a tourist than of any important state guest. But that's actually the complete itinerary of visiting Russian Chief Justice Vyacheslav M Lebedev and his team of four. This is the first time that a chief justice of any friendly country has come to Nepal on an "official courtesy visit". It should be an occassion for people in the judiciary. Instead, many of them are asking: what is the substance or symbolism of the visit that will cost Nepali taxpayers about a million rupees? kathmandu post writes.

Interestingly, the itinerary does not include any meeting with office-bearers of Nepal Bar Association, though such a body is part of the judicial system in any country.

"How can we term the visit as aimed at understanding our judicial system when the Russian delegation is not even meeting with NBA officials? Without meeting NBA officials, how can the delegates understand our judiciary?" commented NBA general secretary Madhav Banskota about the visit.

"We should not spend money to host a delegation whose purpose is no different from that of tourists. We should not spend money from the state exchequer to host tourists."

Sources also said that the government has released only Rs 600,000 for the visit in view of its "purposeless" nature. The SC had initially demanded Rs 900,000 from the government to host the "Russian guests" for four days. The SC has been told to use its own resources to meet the full expenses.