KMC court deciding cases at record speed

The legal department of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) decided 81 cases out of 162 heard in a month. The metropolis had decided only 66 cases throughout last year.

“This is the first time that the KMC has decided such a large number of cases in a month,” said Basanta Acharya, chief of the legal department.
Acharya said hearing of some 162 cases have already been completed

after the arrival of new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dinesh Thapaliya. “If the department acts in this speed, I am sure that no case will take more than three months to be decided,” he said.

Thapaliya said in the last one month KMC decided 81 cases out of 162 heard. “We have tried to make people feel that they get justice quickly and easily, which was not possible in the past,” he said.

Five hundred thirty-eight cases were pending last year while 88 new cases have been filed till date. “There are a few cases that have been pending for a decade,” he said. Only 66 cases were decided last year due to various reasons.

He said frequent changes of CEOs, delay in delegation of mayor’s authority to them and municipality election had delayed justice delivery.
The elected mayor decided only seven cases during his two-month tenure.

Mainwhile The metropolis is setting up a separate mediation desk with the support of Mediation Centre (MC), a non-governmental organisation working for various judicial and quasi-judicial bodies. “Unlike the traditional hearing in the court mediation is based on a win-win principle in which both the parties win and they can live in the society in a harmonious manner,” said Acharya. The KMC needs to provide only a space for conducting mediation. “We are preparing a desk for the mediation centre within a week,” Acharya told this daily adding that the KMC would be the first government body to establish a separate mediation desk.

Coordinator of the mediation centre Suku Pun said the desk would function as soon as it is completed. She also said trained KMC staffers will also contribute in the mediation besides mediation volunteers.