Issues For Constitutional Review

Nepal Bar Association (NBA) team met with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli the other day and presented a list of suggestions that need to be taken into consideration while the issues relating to amendment to the constitution are deliberated during the upcoming days as agreed by the ruling NC-UML coalition. The issues incorporated in the list presented to the Prime Minister contain several important aspects especially related with the reform of judiciary and system of dispute resolution in the country. One point that has caught the attention of this writer is the reform in the jurisdiction of the Judicial Committee at the local level which is provisioned in the article 217 of the constitution. Since the jurisdictional authority of the Judicial Committee to give verdict in the cases has been questioned from jurisprudential point of view, the NBA suggestion to limit the Judicial Committee to resolve cases using mediation only is appropriate.