KATHMANDU, Dec 1: Cases will be assigned to justices at the Supreme Court through an automation system from Wednesday.
The lottery system is implemented by depriving the chief justice of the right to assign the cases to other justices of the apex court. It was very difficult to implement the automated process that had been stuck in discussions for about five years.
Hearing on case against Resham Chaudhary postponed
This time around, 19 judges of the Supreme Court and the Nepal Bar Association staged agitation demanding the resignation of Chief Justice Cholendra SJB Rana, only after which the implementation of the automation system was assured.
Now, the chief justice cannot assign cases to the other justices of the court on his own sweet will. With this change, it is hoped that the cases that have been pending for years will also get a chance to be heard.
Following the issue of Chief Justice Rana’s alleged involvement in the coalition government; the justices boycotted the hearing assigned by CJ Rana.
They had been boycotting the hearings assigned by CJ Rana demanding his resignation, saying that it was too serious of a concern for the judiciary leadership to seek his ‘share’ in the government.
From the inception of the judiciary till now, the chief justice of the Supreme Court and the chief judges of the high courts had been assigning cases to the other judges of the courts on a daily basis. Alternatives to reform were sought following widespread complaints that the chief justice's arbitrariness, lack of transparency, mediation while assigning cases to other judges had increased corruption.
