INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
KATHMANDU, JUNE 27Article 20 of the constitution states indigent party shall have the right to free legal aid in
This makes it a fundamental right all indigent parties should be able to enjoy.
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Free legal aid also enhances people's access
to justice, but in practice many people are unable to avail free legal aid provided through two government mechanisms - court appointed
attorneys or district legal aid provider
Executive Director of Public Defender Society of Nepal Ajay Shankar Jha said legal aid provided by court-appointed lawyers or the district
legal aid was just for the sake of legal aid."There is just one court appointed attorney in Kathmandu District Court where almost three
dozen benches are formed everyday
We can imagine how busy the court attorney is in Kathmandu," he said and added that a busy court attorney cannot give quality service to
"We know that court attorneys are told to represent defendants accused of a crime just for a few minutes before the hearing begins
If a court attorney does not have time to study the case and do some research to prepare defence, he/she can not provide quality service to
defendants and this is the case in most of the courts today," Jha added
A large number of cases are adjudicated by quasi-judicial bodies such as district administration offices and forest offices, but in those
cases, there is no formal mechanism to provide free legal aid to the defendants.
As far as district legal aid committees
are concerned, they lack human resources to provide quality service to service seekers.Government legal aid provider in Rupandehi district
Bishnu Bhusal told THT that he had almost 300 cases to represent and everyday he had four to five cases where he appeared before the court
"I have to manage everything - running errands for my office, keeping the records of expenses and case files, writing cases on behalf of the
indigent parties, and representing them in the court," Bhusal said.Legal aid regulation, however, states that legal aid shall not be
provided in narcotic drugs, corruption, rape, and revenue leakage cases
The regulations also state that a person who has got legal aid will have to pay the money spent for him if he gets economic benefit from the
Those who want to seek legal aid through district legal aid committees have to go through a cumbersome process.As per Legal Aid Regulation,
service seekers have to get a recommendation letter from their respective ward offices certifying that their annual income is less than Rs
Rs 40,000."It is unwise to think that only those people that earn less than Rs 40,000 a month should get free legal aid
Even a person who earns Rs 40,000 a month cannot easily afford lawyers' fees and other expenses during court proceedings," Jha said.Bhusal
said the Rs 40,000 annual income rule is applied under the Legal Aid Regulation of 1997 and even after 26 years the same provision is
applicable."A poor woman, who has been evicted from her husband's house, approaches with three or four small kids
If she has to file a case of alimony, partition, and seek divorce from her husband, she needs to pay almost Rs 2,700 court fees
How can such a woman pay this amount? Bhusal wondered
He said free legal aid should be made available to all service seekers irrespective of their income level.Jha said the government needed to
overhaul the legal aid procedures to ensure access to justice
"In those districts where there are not too many cases, the court can pay the court attorney on case wise basis and in those districts where
there is huge caseload, the court should be allowed to hire as many court attorneys as required," he said
Jha also said the best thing would be that the government provide funds to NGOs to represent indigent parties in the court.A version of this
article appears in the print on June 28, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://thehimalayantimes.com
