The 19th century British Prime Minister Ewart Gladstone famously said, 'Delayed justice is equal to no justice.' Ewart's expression is still relevant in Nepali society, which is suffering from the problem of not getting justice quickly. 26 thousand 228 cases are pending in the Supreme Court alone.

 Also, it is mentioned in the annual report of the Supreme Court that 25 thousand 539 cases are under consideration in the high court and 18 thousand 832 cases in the district. In recent years, despite the increase in the speed of disposal of cases, 170 thousand 599 cases remained. With the remaining and new additions, about 500,000 cases have started reaching the courts at all levels. 

Kantipur's brief conversation with former Chief Justice Harikrishna Karki about the pressure of cases in the court and the delay in justice:  Last year, the Supreme Court decided the most cases, but compared to 10 years ago, the number of pending cases has increased. What is the reason for the increase in the number of cases in the Supreme Court?

We are not able to appoint judges to the Supreme Court on time. If the appointed number of judges are fully formed and the bench is full, a result can be reached. However, the posts of 4 judges in the Supreme Court have been vacant for a long time. As the number of judges decreases and the number of cases increases, the problem is bound to arise. The second reason is that any case comes before the Supreme Court. If it is possible to change it and create a situation where only selected cases come to the Supreme Court, it can do well. By amending the

law and arranging for some cases to be decided from the top, this problem will be reduced. Thirdly, various situations are also creating issues. Like, once the court ordered, if the concerned organization, state agency or person complied with it, there would be no case again. However, its implementation has not been much, which leads to the issue again. That is why the cases are increasing. Similarly, there is a practice of taking arbitrary writs to the court saying that it is a matter of public concern. Because of this, the Supreme Court is 'overloaded' with the pressure of cases. 

It was expected that the case would be decided a little faster after the shelling, and it would be improved. Is this the reason for the improvements that have been made now? After the

was taken to Golapratha, it seems that the speed of the case has increased. If we look at the annual report, we can see progress in the sales rate. However, the issue is not that the rate of sale will increase only because of the shell system. There is a demand for speedy justice from all sides. At this time, a campaign has been started in the court for this. It is supposed to bring the cases that have been cut for five years to zero after it started. It is giving good results. The five-year strategic plan also says to reduce the number of cases. The

annual event also has it. A different case management system called 'Different Case Management' has been implemented in the District and High Courts. Similarly, the court plans to dispose of a case within 6 months, one year and one and a half years. It has also helped greatly in reducing the number of cases. However, the biggest challenge is at the highest level.