Rajan (name changed), 47, of Birauta, Pokhara, has been in a correctional center for six months. His wife Rajani (name changed) has been fighting for justice against him for nine months.

Rajani had approached the Judicial Committee of Pokhara Metropolitan City in 2008 Falgun with a complaint about Manachamal.

She is upset that her husband, who is addicted to drugs, has been abusing her. She has demanded that her husband bear the expenses of her children's education. However, Rajan is not in favor of fulfilling the demand. On the contrary, he scolds Rajani. She neither goes to the court nor fulfills the demand. Once, when the city police brought her to the Judicial Committee's court, she returned. After that, a team including the Judicial Committee Chief and Deputy Mayor Manju Devi Gurung went to the Correction Center to meet her.

The decision on this dispute, which has been going on in the Judicial Committee for 7 months, was prepared to be announced in the last week of Bhadra. After the Metropolitan City building was burnt down in the arson attack on Bhadra 24, the documents and records related to this dispute were destroyed. Rajani, who is also suffering from mental torture from her husband, is in even more trouble as the justice is delayed.

Pawan Subedi, an assistant administrative officer working in the law department of the metropolis, says that the victim will be in trouble if the decision is delayed due to the burning of the records. According to him, no records are safe except those saved online when sending them to someone.

He said that there is a problem in the case of disputes related to ongoing disputes and disputes that have gone to appeal. ‘If the court asks for some documents in disputes that have gone to appeal, we are not in a position to provide them.’ All the documents from 2075 onwards that were previously decided have been burnt,’ he said.

Another problem facing the judicial committee is that it has to spend time again on disputes that have already been settled after the written decision in the arson case was burnt.

The rent dispute of a hotel at Street No. 20 in Lakeside was in the judicial committee since Asad 17, 2081. The matter was settled after a year and a half of hard work after the landlord filed a complaint with the committee after not receiving rent. The decision was made by the judicial committee, with the landlord receiving about 1.45 million rupees in rent. Although the written agreement was prepared, the petitioner did not go to receive it.

The dispute started after the first operator rented the hotel to a second person. Initially, the condition was that the hotel owner would pay 75,000 rupees per month as rent. He then rented it to another person for 100,000 rupees per month. When he realized that he had made a profit by renting the house, the second person did not pay the rent. The landlord did not receive any rent. After this, he approached the judicial committee on 17 Asar 081.

While this dispute was going on in the judicial committee, someone else had already bought the hotel. ‘The items there have been put in a bond with the participation of the police and the ward office,’ Subedi said, ‘We have asked both parties for the previous documents to be prepared again after the decision is burned.’

These are two representative incidents, 37 disputes pending in the Pokhara Judicial Committee have faced delays in justice due to the arson attack on the office by protesters on Bhadra 24 during the Gen-G movement.

After the documents and records were burned in the arson, the Judicial Committee has demanded documents related to the dispute from the parties, the opposition, and the mediator. The committee’s meeting held on Kartik 12 had decided to give the parties one month to appear and register the case.

Since the committee’s work from Bhadra 23 to Kartik 12 was blocked, it has given time till Mangsir 13 to set a date and register the case. The deadline for filing a case and filing a case will expire within this period. 

Subedi said that about 20 dispute files have been received after the information and contact of the metropolis.  The session, which was stopped when the Gen-G movement set fire to the metropolitan building, has started from November 1.  The session has been set up in the fire brigade building in Shanti Van, Pokhara, where the metropolis has its temporary office.  The session of the Judicial Committee of Pokhara is held every Monday and Wednesday. 

Manju Devi Gurung, the head of the Judicial Committee, said that the documents are being collected with the help of information, telephone contact, public representatives and mediators.  ‘We have contacted the parties and the opposition and asked them to give copies of the documents they have.  We are working on filing and reviewing the requested documents,’ she said.  She said that the work of updating is ongoing as the details of the mediator have also been burnt.