1,258 cases stuck for over five years at Nepal’s Supreme Court

The workload of the judiciary has been growing steadily. When the strategic plan was first implemented in the judiciary in 2004, the total annual caseload across all courts stood at 107,641 cases. By the end of June 2025, that number had risen to 375,284 cases.

During that same period, annual case disposals rose from 53,812 to 228,142. This means the workload of the courts has grown by more than three times, while case disposals have increased by more than four times.

These figures are contained in the work plan submitted by Chief Justice nominee Manoj Kumar Sharma to the Parliamentary Hearing Committee.

According to Sharma, a total of 214,754 new cases were registered in the most recent fiscal year 2024/25. On that basis, the monthly average of new case registrations across courts is approximately 17,896, which translates to an average of 715 new cases filed every single day.

According to him, case disposals average 228,142 annually, approximately 19,011 per month, and 760 per day.

Based on data from the end of June 2025, the work plan submitted by Sharma states that 1,258 cases pending for more than five years remain before the Supreme Court.

Similarly, 6 cases over two years old remain pending at the High Courts, while 3,864 cases remain pending at District Courts.

Overall, although daily case disposals last year outnumbered daily new filings, Sharma noted that it has not been possible to fully reduce the old backlog.

Damage to IT servers and equipment caused by an incident in September 2025 disrupted case flow management, which appears to have contributed to the growing backlog.

To address this situation, Chief Justice nominee Sharma has presented a strategic plan that includes procedural simplification, jurisdictional review, improved case flow, hearing and argument scheduling management, and maximum use of information technology, all aimed at reducing the case backlog

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