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National Assembly 6 January, 2007 - The number of appeal cases to the High Court increased to 173 in 2006 from 118 in the previous year according to the annual judiciary report released on January 5.
The largest numbers came from Wangduephodrang with 18 followed by Paro with 12, and eight each from Gelephu, Punakha, Thimphu and Trashiyangtse.
Out of the total four cases, including the AWP case, went on appeal to His Majesty the King. Eighty three cases were affirmed, and the rest were compromised, remanded, dismissed, or disallowed according to the report.
According to the chief justice, Lyonpo Sonam Tobgye, appeals bring vertical check and balance providing for an avenue whereby, errors if any committed by the lower courts, are corrected ensuring proper delivery of justice.
“However, the system of multiple appeals is being misused by unscrupulous people as means to beat the system resulting in a negative social impact and harassment of the other party involved,” Lyonpo Sonam Tobgye stated in the annual report. “The desire to teach the other party a lesson is so compelling that they appeal merely to drag on with the legal proceedings.”
According to the report the number of cases tried and decided by the 24 courts in the country increased to 10,376 cases in 2006 from 8,494 cases in 2005.
Pending cases reduced from 3,016 cases to 2,378, in the past year. There were 22 cases pending beyond 18 months.
New cases in 2006 increased to 9,738 from 9257 in 2005. There was an average annual increase of 12.08 percent cases in the past thirteen years around the country.
The five benches of Thimphu district court, which had the maximum of 2,078, cases excluding 635 pending cases from previous year, decided 2,298 cases followed by the Paro district court, which decided 1,038 cases 1,171 new cases and 308 pending cases.
Among the sub-division courts (dungkhag), the Gelephu court decided 840 cases from 1,044 cases followed by Phuentsholing, which decided 546 cases from 766 cases.
The introduction of legal, judicial and procedural reforms, had increased accountability, responsibility, transparency and competition in the system, said the chief justice.
These included judicial databases, linking the management of a case to a particular judge, statistics on judicial performance, yearly national case reports, and monitoring and evaluating the hearing stages as well as legal staff.
The Judiciary had also responded to the delay in the disposal of cases by appointing additional Judges. There are now five Benches in Thimphu dzongkhag court and an additional bench each is to be established in Paro and Phuentsholing Courts in 2007.
The judiciary of Bhutan entered into a new chapter this week when the National Assembly of Bhutan enacted the Judicial Service Act, which gives it complete independence in its administrative structure.
“The act will strengthen public trust and confidence in the judicial system and in the integrity of the judiciary,” said Lyonpo Sonam Tobgye.
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