Govt must prioritize execution of judgments: CJ Regmi

KATHMANDU, July 15: Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi on Friday urged the government and state authorities to prioritize execution of judgments without any compromise.



Speaking at a program on ´Impunity and the Non-Implementation of Judicial Rulings´, which was jointly organized by Judicial Officers´ Society, ICJ, FORID and INSCE, CJ Regmi added, "Implementing judgments and judicial rulings must be the prime obligation of the state if rule or law has to be enforced in the country."[break]



Regmi said law and order of the country will be weak if judicial rulings are not implemented in a timely and effective manner.



"Non-implementation of judgments means weakening the rule of law," he added. Saying that the implementation of thousands of judgments issued by Supreme Court, Appellate Court and District Courts is not possible only with the efforts of judiciary alone, CJ Regmi urged all the stakeholders to seriously move ahead in implementing judicial rulings without further delay.



"This is not the time of assessing or reviewing judicial rulings," he added, "We all should concentrate our entire energy in implementing judicial rulings rather then reviewing court judgments," Regmi added.



Speaking at the same program, Attorney General Dr Yubraj Shangaula pointed out various flaws in judicial rulings saying that such flaws are also responsible for non-implementation of the judgments. "Passing judgments alone is not enough," Shangraula said, adding, "Judicial rulings must be in line with independent judiciary and based on widely adopted jurisprudence."



Shangraula had presented some judicial rulings pointing out flaws. "Justices or judges must be objective while coming up with judgments," he added, "Unfortunately, justices are found to have becoming subjective while passing the judgments."



Frederick Rawski, country representative of ICJ, Nepal, asked politicians and human rights activists not to misquote international laws in the course of ending impunity in the country. "Politicians and often lawyers have misquoted and mischaracterized international law to justify arguments in favor of amnesties and withdrawals," Rawski argued.



According to data presented at the function by Mahendra Nath Upadhaya, director general of Judgment Execution Directorate (JED), over 100,000 judgments are yet to be executed and 80,000 jail terms slapped by the courts are yet to be served.



"Rs 4 billion is yet to be recovered from thousands of convicted individuals," Upadhaya said while presenting the data.



Advocate Govinda Sharma Bandi pointed out causes of impunity and non-implementation of the judicial rulings and suggested some way-outs for ending long-standing impunity in the country.

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