The government has allocated only 0.45 percent of the total budget for the judiciary. Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle has allocated Rs 9.49 billion 16 million for the judiciary. Which is only 0.45 percent of the total budget of the federal government. The judiciary had been demanding at least one percent budget allocation of the total budget. However, like in the past, this year too, a lower budget has been allocated.

The government had given a ceiling of Rs 9.34 billion during discussions with the court. It seems that Rs 150 million has been added to the ceiling in the budget. The judiciary received a budget of Rs 10.6 billion last year. This year, there has been a decrease of Rs 1 billion. Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court Bimal Poudel responded that the judiciary did not get one percent of the budget even though it asked for it. He said that since some amount has been added to the ceiling given by the government, work will be taken forward from this budget to make the administration of justice more efficient, starting with digital courts.

19-year-old agenda, transitional justice finalization

The government has reiterated that it will finalize the transitional justice process (TRC). The budget statement presented in the federal parliament on Friday states that ‘the remaining work related to the peace process and transitional justice will be concluded as soon as possible’. The budget includes a commitment to finalize the transitional justice process through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, which were formed by the government to investigate human rights violations during the Maoist armed conflict. However, the commitment to finalizing the transitional justice process has been expressed for the past 19 years. It seems that the current government has only continued it. Some time ago, the government had dismissed the officials of both the commissions through an ordinance. Currently, both the commissions are being run by employees.

The budget mentions that a law on conflict of interest will be formulated for good governance and policy-level corruption will be ended. The budget states that recovery, seizure, acquisition and management will be made more effective by linking the relevant agencies to an integrated information system for the effective management of criminal assets. The budget states that the digital time card will be implemented in government offices and the national identity card will be used as the basic identity card for public service delivery, and the system related to civil services such as land revenue, transportation, passport, personal incident registration and social security management will be strengthened.