Laws Should Keep Pace With Changed Context

There seem to be many Panchayat era rules and regulations that are still in effect today. For instance, we still get citizenship certificates as per the provisions of the Citizenship Act that was made some 37 years ago. As students of law, we are not against the validity of the legal provisions stated in those documents. However, equally important is the fact that they should be continually updated and amended as required by the changing context. This hasn’t happened in our country, with some exceptions.

A very good example is the provision of a fine as punishment. The amount in the past was fixed on the basis of the then valuation of the national currency in the international monetary market and the currency’s purchasing power within the country. This has changed over the years but the amount of the fine is the same.

M. Baskota and Friends
Nepal Law Campus, Kathmandu