Nepal Bar opposes plan to make district judges mediators; minister open to alternatives
Bar president Bijay Prasad Mishra told a parliamentary committee that a judge must remain a referee, not a player. Law Minister Sobita Gautam said the government is not insisting on the proposal.
The Nepal Bar Association has rejected a government proposal to let district judges act as mediators. Its president, Senior Advocate Prof Dr Bijay Prasad Mishra, set out the objection on Thursday, 5 November (19 Kartik 2083 BS), at the House of Representatives’ Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee, which is examining the Mediation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2083.
“The Nepal Bar Association rejects the idea of putting judges to work on mediation,” Mishra said, according to media reports. He argued that judges cannot be assigned work other than judicial work and that a judge’s role is only that of a referee. “A referee should not be made a player,” he was quoted as saying.
What the bill proposes
The bill would allow trained district judges to serve as mediators. At the same meeting, Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Sobita Gautam said the idea was that, in courts with more than five judges, at least one designated judge would conduct mediation. The government expects that a judge’s involvement would increase the parties’ confidence in mediation and help reduce the pressure of cases on the courts, she said.
Gautam also made clear that the government was not wedded to the idea. “It is not our position that it must be a judge,” she said, adding that the government was ready to discuss alternatives if there was general disagreement. Some lawmakers and other stakeholders also opposed the proposal during the committee discussion, Himalaya Times reported.
The Bar’s argument and its alternative
Mishra’s central argument concerns judicial impartiality. Sitting down with the parties to broker a settlement and deciding a case on evidence and law are different kinds of work, he said, and giving both roles to the same office-holder could raise questions about impartiality. Because mediation is not judicial work, he argued, even the Chief Justice cannot assign it to judges.
The Bar does not oppose mediation itself. Mishra proposed widening its scope to cover minor criminal offences punishable by one to two years’ imprisonment, which he said would reduce the workload of the courts and government agencies and speed up the resolution of disputes.
What happens next
The bill is at the clause-by-clause stage in the committee, and lawmakers have registered amendment proposals; Ratopati English reported in September that 66 amendments had been filed. The bill will return to the House only after the committee decides whether to keep, drop or replace the provision on judges. The committee’s decision has not yet been made public.
Sources
Other reporting
- Judges cannot be given the role of mediators: Bar president Mishra — Onlinekhabar (Nepali), 5 Nov 2026
- We proposed judges as mediators to make mediation credible: Law Minister Gautam — Himalaya Times (Nepali), 5 Nov 2026
- Judges cannot be given the role of mediators: Nepal Bar — Nagarik (Nepali)
- Nepal News Evening Briefing, 5 November 2026 — Nepal News
- 12 Lawmakers Submit 66 Amendments to Mediation Bill — Ratopati English, 30 Sep 2026
