Document forgery biz rampant; Law Ministry directs bodies to remain vigil

By Bimal Gautam
KATHMANDU, Feb 7

It has been revealed that there are rampant cases of forgery in which lawyers, government employees and brokers band together to manufacture verdicts through bogus judges, and take personal and other benefits.

With the revelation, the Law Ministry has constituted a probe panel and directed the bodies under it to be vigil over the cases of fradulence.

More often than not, authorities have ascertained lawyers’ hand in the ‘sham’ business of forging documents including court verdicts with the name of nonexistent judges, and translating them into English from the Kanun Kitab Vyawastha Samiti (KKVS)–the government office for verification of official documents orgininally written in Nepali and translating into English, if requested.

With the help of forged divorce certificates and other documents, attempts have been made to arroggate properties from individuals in some cases. Numerous citizenship and relationship verification certificates have been found to be faked.

The ministry has proceeded action against some some 30 employees whose nexus has been seen in some cases of forgery.

In Kathmandu alone, four cases of fake verdicts have been discovered. The KKVS translated three verdicts into English and marked its official stamp on the copies, thereby recognising the ‘genuineness’ of the documents. It, however, did not workn on the fourth one as it missed the judge’s signature.

The probe panel formed to look into the matter has submitted a report to Law Minister Dev Gurung recently. The report has concluded that ‘serious crime’ and irregularities have occurred in the KKVS business in the name of translation.

It has pointed out that some unuthorised people have been taking benefits through forgery.

Lawyers have seen to be in the forefront of the sham business.

Advocate Khagendra Bohora, with the Notary Public registration number 662, submitted an application for translation of a verdict at the KKVS. Later, it was discovered that both the verdict and the name of the judge were bogus.

Bohora had mentioned the name of the jugde at the Baglung District Court as Jeevan Lal in the verdict of a case. When the probe panel consulted the Supreme Court to verify the jugde’s name, the cheating was revealed.

The panel has recommended to take action against Bohara and 12 other KKVS employees who translated the verdict without verifying the facts.
Another lawyer Birendra Shiwakoti, with the license number 9651, has forged two verdicts with bogus name of the judges. He had filed separate applications for translation of the court decision of the case of Sanjaya Rana and Sharada Rana of Siddhartha Nagar 13 with Rajendra Singh’s name as the judge, and that of Lakshmisara Rai and Surya Ram Sunuwar of Okhaldhunga with the name of Ram Krishna Chitrakar as the judge.

The probe panel could not find an evidence of existence of the judges in the respective district courts.

“The records at the Supreme Court, Judicial Council and the district courts did not show any jugde with those names,” said a source at the Law Ministry, adding, “There can be no other crime bigger than it.”

The translation of the three verdicts was done recently.

The KKVS, on the other hand, says that translation was done in trust when the verdicts submitted contained ditto offical stamps of the courts, and signatures.
Meanwhile, the KKVS admitted that it was a serious mistake and unfortutate. “We were cheated,” said KKVS Acting Member Secretary Mohan Bahadur Chhetri.

“We are serious about the matter and we are surprised too,” added he.
He opined that those involved in the business should be brought to the justice, and said that measures are being taken to curb the activities of brokers.

According to the spokesperson at the law ministry, Rajuman Singh Malla, to implement the recommendation of the probe panel, the report has been forwarded to the KKVS.

“We are doing further investigation. There might be other serious crimes,” said he. According to him, the ministry already directed the KKVS to be serious and work to thwart the wrongful conducts which, he said, if not curbed immediately would get established as a trend.

The probe panel has concluded that in most of the cases of documents forgery there is direct and important involvement of lawyers.
In another instance, six documents and citizenship certificates submitted by lawyer BP Dhakal, license number 6186, at the KKVS for translation are fake.

The KKVS has informed the Kathmandu District Administration about the cases and asked to take action against Dhakal.
Also, dozens of passports, and some relationship verfication certificates have been found to be fake.

The KKVS asked the Nepal Bar Association to take action against advocate Chitra Bahadur Trikhatri, license number 6390, when it found that the relationship verification document of Karbir Pun of Pokhara-11 contained fake signature of Department of Commerce Section Officer Narayan Prasad Sapkota.

(www.ekantipur.com Translated and edited by Keshav P. Koirala) Posted on: 2009-02-07 11:44:33 (Server Time)

How do the various political parties see the role of the judiciary in the new constitution?

Jurisdiction of the judiciary

FROM ISSUE #436 (30 JAN 2009 – 05 FEB 2009)
Nepali Congress
The judiciary shall uphold democratic rights and norms and have the prime responsibility of maintaining rule of law and the supremacy of constitution. There shall be a supreme court at the centre, while appellate and other courts at the centre and provinces shall be provisioned as per a future federal structure.

The judiciary shall not only be independent and accountable but also competent and impartial. The judiciary will stand for justice with prevailing liberal interpretation of the justice system.

The judges shall be appointed by public hearing process through parliament. The appointment of judges shall be recommended on the basis of qualification and their contribution to the field. The constitution shall have a provision for the parliament to impeach judges and decide on it.

To guarantee impartiality, timely and convenient service delivery, a timetable will be provided for the courts to issue a verdict for a case filed.

UCPN-M
With full commitment to independent judiciary, the justice system shall be made accountable to the people as per democratic norms and values. The justice system shall be restructured with a three-tier court?the supreme court at the centre, high court in the provinces and a district court at the district level. There shall be public courts and reconciliation centres under the district courts.

The Supreme Court shall be developed as a court which can interpret serious legal issues, constitutional issues, inter-province issues and issues regarding the distribution of national resources and their use. High courts shall be made effective by granting them residual powers.

CPN-UML
The independent judiciary shall be developed as a constitutional body. The Supreme Court will have the right to validate constitutionality. There shall be three-tier judiciary at the centre, provinces and local level as per the federal structure. The judiciary shall be made accountable and public service-oriented. Appointment of judges shall be made by an independent body as specified in the constitution. The parliament appoints judges through parliamentary hearing.

TMLP
The judiciary shall remain as an independent constitutional body. As per the federal structure, the judicial system shall have three tiers?Supreme Court, provincial courts and district courts. The Supreme Court shall have the right to interpret the constitution. There shall be criminal, legal, revenue and consumer courts under the concept of community and convenience courts.

MJF
The Supreme Court shall be the highest court. There shall be constitutional supremacy and rule of law. The constitutional supremacy shall be inviolable. There shall be a Supreme Court, provincial and district courts.

NWPP
The Supreme Court shall decide on the debate concerning the centre and provinces and constitutional issues. Each province shall have its own court. There shall be district courts under the provincial court. The Supreme Court can constitute labour courts, consumer courts, women’s courts and others as per required.

CPN (Unified)
There shall be four-tier courts with a federal Supreme Court, provincial high courts, regional courts and local courts. The head of the state shall appoint the chief justice of federal Supreme Court and judges of provincial high court on recommendation of the conditional council. Elected judges shall be appointed on the recommendation of the central judiciary council by the head of state.

The Supreme Court shall have 25 per cent judges through election and 75 per cent based on experience and promotion. Except those elected judges in provincial high court and regional courts, the head of the state shall appoint other judges on recommendation of provincial judiciary council and regional judiciary council.

http://www.nepalitimes.com.np/issue/2009/02/3/ConstitutionSupplement/15629