Kathmandu, September 9
The Supreme Court has ordered the government to prepare and publicly disclose a consolidated record of all gifts received by Nepal’s public officials in an official capacity.
A division bench of Justices Dr Manoj Sharma and Nripdhwaj Niraula issued the directive while hearing a petition demanding that gifts received by public officials during official meetings and foreign visits be brought under government ownership.
The court ordered the government to establish a system to regularly publish details of gifts received by public officials through government websites or other appropriate means.
It also directed the government to establish legal liability for officials who fail to submit details of gifts to the concerned authorities.
The court further ordered arrangements for classifying gifts and setting a minimum value if an official wishes to retain a gift personally. It said the government must determine whether such retained gifts constitute taxable income and that gifts above the prescribed threshold should have to be purchased from the government if the official wishes to keep them.
The court also directed the government to make immediate arrangements to fill the legal gap until specific legislation on gift management is enacted.
Nepal currently has no dedicated law governing gifts received by public officials. Such provisions have instead been included in directives and codes of conduct.
The 2015 directive on foreign travel, daily allowances and gifts required senior government officials to submit details of gifts along with their foreign-trip reports. The Diplomatic Code of Conduct, 2020, also requires gifts received by public officials to be published on the concerned office’s website and entered into its inventory records.
The Supreme Court studied gift-management laws in other countries while issuing its directive. In the United States, senior government officials generally cannot retain gifts received without complying with federal rules, while gifts above a specified value are treated as government property. In the UK, ministers and their family members are barred from accepting gifts or hospitality that could influence official decisions; ministers may retain gifts worth up to £140, with more valuable gifts required to be surrendered to the relevant department.
The court noted that countries including India and Pakistan also have legal provisions governing gifts received by public officials, and said Nepal needed similar arrangements.
Advocates Srijana Adhikari and Bhawesh Gautam, along with chartered accountant Shailendra Upreti, had filed the petition seeking monitoring of gifts received by public officials and legal arrangements for their management.
The Supreme Court’s full text of the judgment issued on December 28, 2025 was released this week.
