Research Article

LEGAL AID: EXISTING LAW, POLICIES

AND PRACTICES IN NEPAL
Bimal Prasad Lamichhane

Abstract
Legal aid is a system of providing free or inexpensive advice,
assistance, or representation for those who cannot afford to pay for
the services of professional lawyers mainly because of a difficult
financial situation. The provisions of legal aid to the poor are based on
humanitarian considerations and the main aim of these provisions is
to help the poverty-stricken people who are socially and economically
backward. It can be said that the spiritual essence of the scheme
consists in investing law with a human heart to ensure immanence of
social justice in the juridical order on the substantive and the procedural
planes of law. In this article the author clearly presents the notion of
legal aid, its relevance, institutions rendering legal aid services in
Nepal and examines the Nepalese scenario, legal provisions, policies,
practices as well as the problems of legal aid in Nepal.
Keywords: Access, court, equality, justice, lawyer, legal Services

Introduction
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights
(Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, Article 1). Every
person should have equal access to justice when their dignity or
rights are infringed. Therefore, human dignity is always at risk
if a justice system is not able to ensure equal access to justice
(Subedi, 2012: 50). Justice is the ultimate need of every human
being. The term justice suggests the quality of being just or right
or reasonable. Justice is the synthesis of liberty, equality and
fraternity. If justice is denied, there is question in the existence
of law and law is said to be non-prevailing. So, the state and the

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law it enacts must treat all individuals equally. Justice means
fairness in the way people are treated. All citizens are equal
in the eyes of law irrespective of their financial position, but
economic inequality has made justice beyond the reach of the
weaker sections of the people. The effective legal aid program
is an operative means in the realization of justice. The concept
of legal aid has been inalienable part of human beings because
equal protection of law is one important aspect of democracy.
Even in the republican state, justice is not in the access of
everyone. Most of the people are not aware about their rights,
consequences of their act and legal remedies. Nowadays justice
and procedure to achieve justice is too complex, lengthy, time
consuming and costly. The poor people having low income are
not able to bear the fee of the lawyer and the cost of court in
their cases. As a result, they face long imprisonment, heavy fine,
depression and lack of self-confidence.
There is need of an overall assessment of the legal aid schemes
and the framework that is undertaking the operations and
envisioning more effective system that serves broader interests of
the deprived communities who are considered to be the recipients
of the service. In some situations, due to inability to pay the cost
of lawyer and the cost of court administration, guiltless people
and victims face severe problems and are punished as well. In
such a situation law and legal system lost its motto, mission,
schemes, creditability and objectives. Hence, equality, harmony,
integrity, tranquility, equal justice cannot be maintained within
the legal system. Therefore, legal aid is indispensable to provide
equal justice to all.
Access to justice is a crucial and basic human right, which enables
individuals to assert and protect many other human rights. The
legal profession has a crucial role to play in ensuring access
Legal Aid: Existing ... Bimal Prasad Lamichhane - 22 -
to justice, by providing legal services (legal information, legal
advice and legal assistance for handling administrative matters
and court cases). Individuals of limited means who are not able
to pay for legal services, particularly members of disadvantaged,
vulnerable and marginalized groups, require special institutional
mechanisms and services to ensure their access to justice (Legal
Aid Manual, 2009: 3). This includes legal aid schemes. Legal
aid performs a crucial role in providing fair and equal access
to justice to those who are at risk of being excluded from our
legal system. It is quite crucial for the marginalized, disabled,
destitute, vulnerable, excluded and economically poor to get
access to court, legal services and justice.
Simply, legal aid means legal assistance provided to the needy
people. Legal aid is the service which is provided without
taking fees to those needy people who are unable to afford the
legal service due to several factors such as poverty, illiteracy,
disability and so on. It is the aid given to the people who don’t
have a good access to the justice system. This is a free service
given to those who don’t have the money or who is not in the
financial position to hire a legal professional. The process of
giving free legal service to the one who cannot afford it is known
as legal aid. According to the principle of natural justice, every
one should have access to justice. Hence, to comply with this
principle there should be legal aid who cannot afford it.
The general meaning of the term legal aid, therefore, is a social
arrangement extending and providing special assistance or help
to the poorer and weaker members to enable them enforce their
legal rights, facing on an equal platform the powerful and the
rich members, through the legal process (Singh, 1996: 02).
The provision of legal advice and representation in all those
threatened as to their life, liberty, property or reputation who

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are unable to put pay for it (The International Commission of
Jurists, 1959). Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people
otherwise unable to afford legal representation and access to
the court system (Pancholi, 2013: 175). Legal aid is a social
assistance or help extended to the one facing a legal problem
but not affording, being handicapped by his scare resources and
means. It is said that “legal aid does not ensure access to justice
for deserving cases, as most people are not eligible. Instead, it
provides access to lawyers for an eligible minority” (Boosting
Access to Justice for Needy People, 2013: 03). Thus, legal aid
is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford
legal representation and access to court system.
Legal aid means the free legal assistance to the poor and weaker
sections of the society at the state cost with the object to enable
them to exercise the rights given to them by law in any Judicial
Proceedings before the courts or tribunals (Myneni, 2007: 136).
The New Encyclopedia Britannica, “Legal aid is the professional
legal assistance given, either free or for a nominal sum, to
indigent persons in need of such help” (The New Encyclopedia
Britannica, 1974: 122).Legal aid is a system of government
funding for those who cannot afford to pay for legal advice,
assistance and representation. It is a statutory and constitutional
system administered by the state. Legal aid is not a charity of
gift instead it is matter of rights of the deprived and destitute. It
is constitutionally guaranteed right in the fundamental right of
the citizens.
According to Section 2(a) of Legal Aid Act 2054 B.S., of
Nepal, Legal Aid means legal aid to the indigent person under
this Act and the term also includes counseling and other legal
services such as correspondence pleadings, preparation of legal
documents and proceedings in the courts or offices on behalf of

Legal Aid: Existing ... Bimal Prasad Lamichhane - 24 -

indigent person (Legal Aid Act, 2054 B.S, Section 2(a)).Legal
Aid Act2054 B.S was enacted to make legal provisions regarding
legal aid for those persons who are unable to protect their legal
rights due to financial and social reasons to provide for equal
justice to all according to the principle of rule of law(Legal
Aid Act, 2054 B.S, Preamble).Generally, legal aid could be
provided in three kinds they are legal advice or assistance,
civil legal aid and criminal legal aid. Thus, legal aid is a kind
of legal service, advice, assistance or representation provided
through the government funding or through non-governmental
organizations to those who cannot afford to pay for it. Legal aid
can be provided in pre-trail, trail and post trail stages.

Relevance of Legal Aid

With the advancement in the system of courts, the adoption of
formal procedures made the administration of justice relatively
complex. Therefore, lawyer is needed to represent the cases
and the lawyer takes certain fees for representing the cases. All
the people cannot pay fees for the lawyers, so the concept of
legal aid is important. Legal aid is quite important in developing
countries like Nepal where there is appalling poverty, ignorance,
and illiteracy and the people lack awareness of their rights and
means to enforce them. Legal aid plays an instrumental role in
accomplishing equality in society and ensure justice in every
walk of life.
The legal aid system has provided a great service to many
people. But the profession must remember that, when seeking
legal aid, they are under a special responsibility, to seek that it is
wisely and carefully administered (Denning, 1993: 115).Today
legal aid has attracted a worldwide attention. The basic reason
for such a broad approval and that too more or less at the same
point of time is that the concept of legal aid is firmly fastened to
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the concept of ‘rule of law’, which has the principle of ‘equality
before law’ as its concomitant (Singh, 1996: 01). Rule of law and
equality before law are the fundamental pillars of democracy.
Democracy cannot be sustained in the absence of these two
pillars. When there is no rule of law in a society, the society will
be unmanaged, prevailing, disorder, disturbance, disintegration
which no society prefers or can even afford. Unless the common
man, whether he is rich or poor is able to assert and vindicate
the rights given to him by law. So, to promote democracy the
machinery of justice must be readily accessible to all irrespective
of their social, economic, biological, geographical, or any other
types of variances. So, in order to sustain a faith in the system
and democracy, provision of legal aid is indispensable.
Legal aid is important to those who need it and who are unable
to exercise and enforce their human rights and other legal rights
for want of money and social backwardness. Its relevance is
consistent with access to justice for those who are poor having low
income and not able to bear the fee of lawyer. So, it is expected
to be benefitted for those who are initiating with the spirit of
helping hand of deprived people from justice. In the absence
of legal aid to the destitute party to litigation, judge can hardly
protect the interest. So, that legal aid is an essential ingredient for
the process of law. Similarly, in the absence of effective legal aid
program, poor people are bound to be deprived of justice. They
will not be able to pay the lawyer's charge. Courts will be like a
five-star hotel open to all but accessible only to the rich (Legal
Aid and Legal Literacy Scheme in Nepal, 1994: 07). Thus, the
courts must be for poor people too. So that, legal aid should
be provided to the indigent and poor people. Legal aid enables
the deprived and downtrodden to enjoy their rights, freedom
and liberties. It also promotes public interest by safeguarding
the interest of weaker section of the people. In sum we can say
Legal Aid: Existing ... Bimal Prasad Lamichhane - 26 -
that the primary purpose of the introduction of the free legal
aid scheme was to improve access to legal services at the stage
of legal proceedings. This program help ensures fairness in the
justice system.

Objective and Methodology

The objective of this study is to trace out the concept of legal
aid, its significance, institutions which provides legal aid and
examines the Nepalese scenario, legal provisions, practices as
well as the problems of legal aid in Nepal based on the primary
and secondary sources. In this study, the author has applied multi-
research methods, techniques and methodology. The author has
adopted content analysis and doctrinal research methodology
according to need.
The study has extensively been more and more analytical,
descriptive, critical as well as historical. Doctrinally, the
Constitution of Nepal, its Acts, Rules and Regulations related to
legal aid have been used as primary sources. Other information
and knowledge have been collected and utilized from secondary
sources such as published research works, authorized books,
articles and journals. The data of information are descriptively
analyzed and analytically explained. Uniform rule of citation
has been strictly adhered while citing from authentic books or
giving their references. In this research article the author has
used APA model citation.

Status and Consequences of Legal Aid in Nepal

The concept of legal aid as a humanitarian concept is as old as
the human civilization and the concept varies from country to
country depending on the stage of development and her socio-
economic, political and legal background. Though every legal
aid system grows on its own soil, taking from a shape as per

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the need and aspirations of its own people yet the growing
and developing system have much to learn from the steps the
developed legal aid system had trodden (Singh, 1996: 60).
With the advancement in the system of courts, the adoption of
formal procedures made the administration of justice relatively
complex. Therefore, lawyer is needed to represent the cases
and the lawyer takes certain fees for representing the cases. But
certain people cannot pay fees for the lawyers, so the concept
of legal aid is important. Legal aid is quite important in the
developing countries like Nepal where the people are under
appalling poverty, ignorance, and illiteracy and the people lack
awareness of their rights and means to enforce them. Legal aid
plays an instrumental role in accomplishing equality in society
and ensure justice in every walk of life.
It is a fact that most of the people in Nepal are uneducated.
The government data shows that more than 45 percent of the
population are under the poverty line and they are illiterate.
Nepal is listed as one of the poorest countries in the world. So,
due to the scarcity, destitution, illiteracy the Nepalese people
have no knowledge about their rights which are guaranteed by
the law and cannot afford the expenses of justice mechanisms.
Legal aid for the destitute and the deprived people in Nepal is
more important. Legal aid must be delivered to those people
who are under the poverty line.
Legal aid is the method adopted to ensure that no one is debarred
from professional advice and help because of lack of funds
(Rao, 2004: 338). In the absence of legal aid to the destitute
party to litigation, the judge can hardly protect their interest. So
that legal aid is an essential ingredient for the process of law.
Similarly, in the absence of effective legal aid program, poor
people are bound to be deprived of justice. They will not be able

Legal Aid: Existing ... Bimal Prasad Lamichhane - 28 -

to pay the lawyer charge. Courts will be like a five-star hotel
open to all but accessible only to the rich. Thus, ‘the courts must
be for poor people too. So that legal aid should be provided to the
indigent and poor people’ (Thapa, 2056: 22). Legal aid enables
the deprive and downtrodden to enjoy their rights, freedom and
liberties. It also promotes public interest by safeguarding the
interest of weaker section of the people. The primary purpose
of the introduction of the free legal aid scheme was to improve
access to legal services at the stage of legal proceedings. This
program helps to ensure fairness in the justice system.
Modern state is a welfare state. In modern time most of the
democratic states included provision of legal aid in their
constitution. Legal aid gained the status of a state obligation and
the legal profession played its role towards the poorest of the
poor in Nepalese Society. For ensuring the legal aid separate
and specific law is formulated by the parliament of Nepal which
is known as Legal Aid Act, 2054 B.S. (1997 A.D.). This Act
addresses some of the provision targeted on Article 26(14) of the
Constitution of Kingdom of Nepal 2047 B.S. The Preamble of
Nepalese Legal Aid Act, 2054 B.S.(1997A.D.) provisioned that,
“to protect their legal rights due to financial and social reasons
to provide for equal justice to all according to the Principle of
Rule of Law” (Preamble, Legal Aid Act, 2054 B.S.) this Act is
enacted by the Parliament of Nepal. According to Legal Aid
Act, 2054 B.S. and Rule 2055 B.S. person who has the annual
income less than the 40, 000 (Forty Thousand) shall only be
entitled for legal aid. This Act had been promulgated to regulate
the procedures in providing legal aid in Nepal.
The singular provision of legal aid is provisioned under Article
20 of the present Constitution of Nepal 2072 B.S. It made a
provision of ‘Right relating to Justice’ and it stipulates that,

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no person shall be detained in custody without informing him
or her of the ground for his or her arrest. Any person who is
arrested shall be produced before the adjudicating authority
within a period of twenty-four hours of such arrest, excluding
the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to
such authority; and any such person shall not be detained in
custody except on the order of such authority. Any person who is
arrested shall have the right to consult a legal practitioner of his
or her choice from the time of such arrest and to be defended by
such legal practitioner. Any consultation made by such person
with, and advice given by, his or her legal practitioner shall be
confidential. Every person shall have the right to be informed
of any proceedings taken against him or her, right to a fair trial
by an independent, impartial and competent court or judicial
body. In the same manner, the special provision of legal aid
is mentioned in Article, 20(10), any indigent party shall have
the right to free legal aid in accordance with law(Article 20,
Constitution of Nepal 2072 B.S.). Therefore, the Constitution
has documented requirement of defense lawyer to give advice
as a legal aid to the concerned person.

Institutions Rendering Legal Aid Services in Nepal

At present time many of the governmental and non-governmental
organizations are working in the area of legal aid, justice as well
as rights of the prisoners. The role of various institutions in the
area of legal aid are discussed hereunder:

Law Courts
Court is one of the sources of providing legal aid in Nepal.
There are three tires of court in Nepal i.e. District court, High
court and Supreme Court. Legal aid is available in all courts
through stipendiary lawyer (Baitanik Wakil). There is provision

Legal Aid: Existing ... Bimal Prasad Lamichhane - 30 -

of stipendiary lawyer in Rule 143 of Supreme Court Regulation,
2074 B.S., Rule 157 of High Court Regulation 2073 B.S. and
Rule 101(1) of District Court Regulation 2075 B.S. Stipendiary
lawyer provides legal aid including counselling, preparation of
legal documents and pleading before the bench.
The Supreme Court Regulation 2074 B.S. make provision of
legal aid. It has authorized the Register of the Supreme Court of
Nepal to appoint a stipendiary lawyer from among the advocates
on the basis of seniority through open and fair competition. The
stipendiary lawyer is required to work in the legal aid section
of the Supreme Court of Nepal. There are similar provisions of
stipendiary lawyer in High Court and District Court Regulation.
Both Regulations of High Court and District Court prescribe that
the stipendiary lawyer will be appointed among the applicant
advocates available.
According to High Court Regulation 2073 B.S. the Chief
Judge, concerned Bench or Registrar are authorized to make
decision of stipendiary lawyer. In the District Court either
a Judge or the Chief Judicial Officer (Shrestedar) decides on
managing stipendiary lawyer and legal aid. Presently there are
two stipendiary lawyers in the Supreme Court, one stipendiary
lawyer in each High Court and District Court. The remuneration
of stipendiary lawyer of all three tires of court is prescribed
by the Government of Nepal. The duty of stipendiary lawyer
according to these various Regulations is to provide legal aid
to the helpless, unable, children, poor or prisoner litigants as
directed or prescribed by the court.

Civil Society and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)

After the restoration of democracy in 1990, the constitution
adopted the open policy and significant number of voluntary
organizations were established in the form of NGOs.Civil
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society is broadly defined as all organizational activity that
falls outside the orbits of the government or for-profit sector.
Civil society means the entire range of organized groups and
institutions that are independent of the state, voluntary and at
least to some extent self-generating and self-reliant. It includes
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like independent mass
media, think tanks, universities and social and religious groups.
It is most commonly said that civil society may be heard more
loudly in a democratic process. In democracy participation is
a key for achieving consensus on reform and that consensus
provides greater ownership of all.
Citizens are the users of the legal and judicial system, and they
rely on the system to enforce their property and individual
rights. It is, therefore, imperative that civil society groups are
key actors in judicial reform, as it can act as a voice for the
concerns of the public (Bakolis, 2000: 29). As a group, civil
society and NGOs can make governments listen to the voice of
destitute victims who are deprived from their rights and who are
in search of legal aid and quest of justice. It raises the voice of
the voiceless, helpless, handicapped, marginalized, vulnerable
and poor in the concerned levels for their access in the justice
system. It also monitors for accountable, conscious, responsive,
participative, transparent, equitable, inclusive, effective, efficient
and independent judiciary and contributes to good governance.
There are various civil society organizations that have been
providing legal aid in different parts of the country, especially
in support, funding and partnership of various national and
international donor agencies. They conduct various awareness,
trainings and legal literacy, research programmes in the legal
aid, human right issues, justice system and so on. They make
partnership with the government for sharing the legal problems

Legal Aid: Existing ... Bimal Prasad Lamichhane - 32 -

of the victims.
At present time some of the organizations are established and
working in the field of law, human rights, justice, freedom,
development, legal aid, rights of the prisoners and other
several areas of law in Nepal. They are providing services to
the deprived groups of the prisoners and other in need of legal
services. Legal Aid & Consultancy Centre (LACC), Centre for
Victim of Torture Nepal (CVICT), Central Women Legal Aid
Committee (CWLAC), Centre for Legal Research and Resource
Development (CeLRRd), Access to Justice and Advocacy of
Rights (AJAR) Nepal, Forum for Protection of People’s Rights
(PPR) Nepal, Advocacy Forum etc. are some non-governmental
organizations working in the area of legal aid in Nepal.

Nepal Bar Association and its Branches

Nepal Bar Association is an organization of private or defense
lawyers which is similar to civil society and Non-governmental
organizations. Institutionalization of legal aid service came
across with Nepal Bar Association’s initiation. Nepal Bar
Association and its branches of all the courts of Nepal are
important source of legal aid in Nepal which provides legal aid in
support of different partners and donors mainly Norwegian Bar
and European Commission funded legal aid projects. Access to
Justice is one of the principal programs of Nepal Bar Association
based on the agreement between Nepal Bar Association and
Norwegian Bar Association. The targeted group of the project
are the poor, indigent Nepali people including women, children,
Dalit, Janajati, Madheshi and marginalized community who
cannot afford the cost of the lawyer. With the joint collaboration
between Nepal Bar Association and the European Union’s
Conflict Mitigation Programme II; a Legal Aid Manual had been
published.
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Strength and Weaknesses of Legal Aid in Nepal
Affairs concerning delivery of effective and efficient legal
aid services to people with conditions of disenfranchisement
and deprivation of rights and freedoms are largely determined
by and dependent on the ‘system of legal education and legal
professionalism’. The stereotypical approach that often looked
‘legal aid service delivery to people’ oblivious of the ‘methods
and approaches adopted by the legal education and profession’
is still pervasive among individuals, organizations and states’
departments (Sangroula, 2007: 214). Legal aid service is never
a ‘privilege’ of the state, but an indispensable right of the people
in Nepal, for instance, during 1990, the legal professionals,
including judges and state’s officials considered ‘legal aid as a
mercy of the providers’ (Sangroula, 2007: 214).
Lawyers view that they are in superior or dominant position in
attorney-client relationship. This condition makes them capable
to dictate their clients of the remedy and process to follow for.
This is especially true when the client is poor and cannot pay
fees, or he/she under free legal aid scheme (Sangroula, 2007:
218). Our country Nepal is a developing country where most of
the people are living in the rural and remote areas and are under
the poverty line as well as illiterate. Constitution guaranteed
legal aid as a fundamental right and there is specific Legal Aid
Act 2054 B.S. and Legal Aid Rules 2055 B.S. in our country.
Due to the lack of poor economic condition, illiteracy and lack
of awareness most of the Nepalese people are deprived from
justice. Likewise, majority of population are not aware of
their fundamental rights and free legal aid guaranteed by the
constitution and other laws. The Legal Aid Act 2054 B.S. and
Rules 2055 B.S. seems inadequate and unrealistic to cover the
overall aspect, reality and problem of legal aid in Nepal. It lacks
Legal Aid: Existing ... Bimal Prasad Lamichhane - 34 -
many prominent provisions being embodied in it according to
the nature of Nepalese soil, climate and condition.
In the Legal Aid Rules 2055 B.S. no specific criteria, or the pre-
conditions of the people or situation is mentioned to allow legal
aid. Rule 3, 4 and 5 seem to be unsystematic and impractical
because the procedure prescribed by these Rules to go on the
process to get legal aid are too formal, complex and lengthy.
Rule 6 (1) included the provision that any person shall not be
entitled legal aid if he has the annual income more than forty
thousand rupees. In present context this demarcation is very
unscientific, impractical and unreasonable. Thus, this monetary
limitation should be made reasonable and practical according
to the time and situation and this is against right to equality.
It should not be limited to those normally classed as poor but
should include a wider income group.
A few expensive lawyers-turned legal aid counsels took legal
aid as ‘a philanthropic’ work-a job done for old-age satisfaction
of life. This notion or philosophy adopted a ‘nasty appearance’
in the 1997 Legal Aid Act that granted power to ‘legal aid
committee to declare some crimes as not eligible for legal aid’.
Subsequently, the Regulations adopted by the said committee
declared the crimes of ‘terrorism, trafficking of persons and
narcotic drugs, rape, etc.’ as not eligible for delivery of legal
aid services (Sangroula, 2007: 214). Rule 6 (2) of the Legal
Aid Rules 2055 B.S. has categorized some of the cases where
there can be no legal assistance for the victims involved. This
provision seems to be contradictory with the constitutional
provisions especially with Article 18-Right to Equality of the
Constitution of Nepal, 2072 B.S. There should be no such
classification of accused for assisting legal aid. Legal aid should
be made as a fundamental right of every accused as well as of

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the other general people and should not remain unenforceable.
Therefore, the legislature must have a concrete and consistent
vision towards legal aid.
The Supreme Court Regulation, 2074 B.S., High Court
Regulation, 2073 B.S. and District Court Regulation, 2052 B.S.
has made provisions to provide legal aid to the helpless, unable,
poor, children and prisoner litigants as provided by the court
but the Regulations and Legal Aid Rules 2055 B.S. have not
certainly defined and also not developed clear standards so that
the helpless, unable and poor persons who are litigant in a case
could be objectively identified and necessary legal aid could be
provided to them.
Observations in South Asian and East Asian countries present
the existence of the notion phenomenal, which can be taken as
one of the serious ‘drawbacks to fair trial as well as impartiality
in the civil and tort litigation’. This notion is thus considered as
an important factor for ‘continuous exclusion of disenfranchised
and deprived groups from supply and welfare system of the state’
(Sangroula, 2007: 214). In reality, the bar are not enthusiastic to
accept legal aid as mission of legal profession. In contrast, in
countries like Nepal, for instance, law practitioners oppose legal
aid programs as ‘thieves of their fortune’ (Sangroula, 2007: 216).
Legal aid has never been taken as bar’s obligation to common
people. Some professional organizations including Nepal Bar
Association, civil society and NGOs have been conducting
free legal aid and legal literacy programmes with the support
of different national and international agencies and donors.
Through all these services and programmes a large number of
socio-economically disadvantaged and poor people have been
benefited. In a practical sense, the sustainable organizational
framework seems lacking and currently there are quite a few

Legal Aid: Existing ... Bimal Prasad Lamichhane - 36 -

organizations delivering free legal aid services.
The constitution has guaranteed free legal aid as a fundamental
right but there lies a problem in its implementation part. The
legal aid programmes launched in this regard is like a periodic
project and are confined to the small and urban areas of the
country only. Such programmes seems unable to cover the rights
and welfare of the indigent people and they have also lots of
shortcomings, especially in remote and hilly districts. In addition
to this, these districts also lack sufficient number of lawyers as
well. The programs launched by Central Legal Aid Committee,
Courts, Nepal Bar Association, Civil Societies and NGOs are
not adequate. The government seems irresponsible and has not
allocated adequate fund for the legal aid.
Nepal Bar Association has not managed adequate sources of
funds for providing legal aid. It is not sole independent, has not
stable vision and has not able to develop alternative source for
legal aid schemes. Almost of all legal aid programs have been
conducted by the sponsorship of donors. In absence of foreign
sponsorship of the donors or their continuous support specific
aims and sustainability of most of the program are lacking.
For example, the legal aid program executed by Nepal Bar
Association is an example, which could not become sustainable
even after 12 years of funding by Norwegian Bar Association.
Similarly, the state made the provision of stipendiary lawyer
(Baitanik Wakil) to provide legal aid to the indigent people. But
in reality, there is no uniform and established system and practice
on appointment of the stipendiary lawyer. In some courts the
stipendiary lawyers are appointed on the recommendation of
Bar Association, in some courts they are appointed through an
open competition by taking written examination and interviews
and in others they are appointed merely by the decision of the

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concerned authority.
The stipendiary lawyer system has not been effective and fruitful
due to the lack of specialization, lack of precise knowledge on
the specific issue and subject matter, lack of proper orientation,
training, workshop, skill and capacity building programmes,
lack of direction, motivation, control, follow-up mechanisms,
lack of competent manpower, short term appointment, minimum
facilities and remuneration. Likewise, the stipendiary lawyer
(Baitanik Wakil) are not able to provide prompt and qualitative
service to the needy people. Not only this they are not sincere
and responsible to their work and for whom they are appointed.
Stipendiary lawyer (Baitanik Wakil) should be given adequate
remuneration for their services under the legal aid scheme.
Due to the appointment of stipendiary lawyer (Baitanik Wakil),
every year they may not be sincere and responsible to his/her
work. They also lack proper motivation and incentives as well.
They must be motivated and inspired to take up legal profession
as a service to the needy people and destitute section of the
society. Likewise, still many accused persons are denied of
access to defense and a fair trial and they are unaware of legal
aid provided by Court, Nepal Bar Association (NBA), Central
and District Legal Aid Committees, Civil societies and NGOs.
Actually, in Nepalese reality lawyers are less motivated to
provide legal aid to the needy people, especially, most of the
senior lawyer’s neglect to provide free legal aid. In the same
manner, Code of Conduct of the lawyers 2051 B.S and Nepal
Bar Council has not made compulsory provision of legal aid.
To provide legal aid depends on the will and interest of the
lawyer. Due to these situations and limitations the goal of legal
aid program cannot be achieved and some groups of people
especially the destitute and weaker sections of the society are
Legal Aid: Existing ... Bimal Prasad Lamichhane - 38 -
becoming the victim of justice.

Conclusion
Legal aid is essentially a mechanism that enables the poor and
the vulnerable sector of society to be able to enforce their legal
rights in order to access a fair and equitable justice in the society.
In the democratic country, it is an immitigable pre-requisite that
all citizens get economic and social justice in one way or another.
As long as poverty exists in society legal aid will be necessary
to uphold human rights and equality for one and all. Therefore,
the state must render legal aid to all, whether rich or poor and
should not make any distinction among its people on the basis of
wealth, power and prestige.
Impediment in the way to justice leads vulnerable and
marginalized towards more vulnerability and marginalization.
In the absence of legal aid to the destitute party to litigation, the
judge in any court can hardly protect their interests. Therefore,
legal aid is an essential ingredient for the implementation of
laws in the true sense of their enactment. Absence of legal aid
means the deprivation of justice, so necessity of legal aid cannot
be ignored. In the present context, the scope and necessity of
legal aid is increasing day by day. So, the concerned authority
must transform, modify the concerned legal provisions and
institutionalize the legal aid by the allocation of sufficient
budget, widen their activities and legal aid schemes. They should
also give continuity to legal aid services through a follow-up
programme. Finally, Nepal Bar Association, Nepal Bar Council,
Civil Societies and NGOs must assist the court to extend legal
aid schemes on macro basis.

- 39 - Journal of Political Science, Volume XIX

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