KMC indecision deprives people from justice

Civic body up to gills with pending cases

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Kathmandu, October 9

About 200 different cases filed in the Kathmandu Metropolitan City have been pending for about six months owing to the entangled situation of outgoing and incoming executive chiefs.

“It has been six months not a single case has been decided through the metropolis bench,” said Basant Acharya, legal officer at the Law and Case Division of the KMC. “People are deprived of quick delivery of justice from the civic body,” he added.

According to the KMC, there are more than 200 cases of land and house disputes, and divorce for six months. “We used to decide a case in a short time within three months,” said Acharya. “The justice seekers are about to lose their patience. They criticise the authority very seriously,” he added.

Bhusan Man Joshi of Chikamangul in KMC-20 said that the KMC was unnecessarily lingering their case of land dispute for about five months. “Brokers are eyeing our land claiming it producing fake documents,” he said. “However, the concern body is yet to decide on it,” he added. “Otherwise, we are obliged to knock the door of district court.”

Metropolis mayor used to give verdict of the cases earlier. However, the executive chief has been assigned to decide on the people's cases since the void situation of elected representatives in the local bodies for about eight years, said Acharya. “There used to be no cases pending on the bench earlier.”

Newly appointed executive chief Niranjan Baral assumed his office two months ago. Erstwhile executive chief, who was only in acting post, could not take any decision since he was reported to transfer anywhere for four months prior to Baral's appointment. “New chief is still studying the situation here. In such a complex situation, people are barred from getting quick delivery services,” said Acharya.

The dates scheduled for case hearing and verdict have been frequently postponed and deferred due to such complex situation, Acharya explained. “If the KMC could not decide on the cases, it will refer them to the courts,” he said. “But it is unfair to uphold the verdict of the cases.”

Admitting the delay, Baral, who is also the secretary in the government bureaucracy, said that the decisions were pending due to the various reasons. “I have heard about the people's problems and taken it very seriously,” he said.

Baral said that it was the matter of justice and truth, and people's interest and rights. “It is better to delay for true justice rather than giving wrong verdict in a hurry,” he said. “We are studying the cases seriously,” he added. “I will start deciding on the cases after two weeks.”