Kathmandu, Oct 9: Following the Gen Z-led protests, the Supreme Court of Nepal has been unable to conduct regular hearings due to extensive fire damage, handling only writs for prisoner appearances. Ten days after the protests, the court resumed hearings on prisoner appearance petitions by setting up a temporary arrangement in the Supreme Court premises, but regular cases remain on hold, said Supreme Court spokesperson Nirajan Pandey.

Despite plans to resume normal hearings after Dashain, the court lacks functional courtrooms and technical infrastructure. “Even if courtrooms are restored, it could take three to four months to fully resume regular hearings. Currently, we do not have the necessary system,” a Supreme Court source said. Only a basic website for information is operational; full-scale operations require technical readiness.

Officials said firewalls, servers, cabinets, and switches are needed to resume standard operations. The August 24 fire destroyed most networking devices, including crucial firewalls. Three firewalls, seven switches, and additional servers and cabinets are needed, with an estimated cost of 10–12 crore NPR. Technical staff say that with proper equipment, full functionality could be restored in 15 days, but the budget has not yet been allocated. Approval from the Ministry of Finance to reassign the allotted budget is required to proceed.

The August fire destroyed around 90 percent of Supreme Court files. The annex building sustained minor damage, while the printing press for Nepal Law Journal was completely burned. To continue hearings, the court is retrieving files from lawyers representing the parties; 24,000 case files are being collected manually to replace the lost digital records.

The Gen Z protests on August 23–24 also caused damage to 23 courts nationwide, including the Supreme Court, special courts, and district courts. The fire affected data centers, forcing district and high courts to process cases manually. High courts in Biratnagar, Janakpur, Rajbiraj, Pokhara, and Tulsipur suffered major damage. Some courtrooms remain partially operational, while offices for judges, registrars, and records are mostly intact.

The destruction has paralyzed the judicial system, and officials stress urgent funding and technical support are needed to restore full court operations and resume normal legal proceedings across the country.

People’s News Monitoring Service