The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Judiciary generated Nu 47.34 mn in revenue
The Judiciary of Bhutan has released its Annual Report for 2025, revealing a total of 9,090 cases handled nationwide.
Disposal rates remained high with the Supreme Court managed a caseload of 219 cases and deciding 179 case, a disposal rate of 81.7 percent.
High Court achieved a notable 92.4 percent disposal rate, deciding 377 of its 408 cases.
Dzongkhag Courts handled 6,350 total cases and deciding 5,619 cases, an 88.4 percent disposal rate.
Meanwhile, the Dungkhag Courts managed 2,113 cases and deciding 1,750 achieving an 82.8 percent disposal rate.
Across the Dzongkhag and Dungkhag court, the workload was comprised of 5,970 civil cases and 1,551 criminal cases.
Among Dungkhag Courts, Phuentsholing received 633 cases, 36.37 percent of total registrations, followed by Gelephu at 516, a 29.65 percent.
The overall performance of the Dungkhag Courts reflects a commendably high disposal rate with courts like Wamrong achieving a 100 percent disposal rate and no pending cases. Panbang and Weringla Dungkhag Courts each concluded all but one case, while Dorokha, Lingzhi, Samdrupcholing, and Thrimshing Dungkhag Court reported only two pending cases each.
Regarding Dzongkhag Courts, Thimphu’s five specialised benches account for a substantial proportion of filings, led by the Thimphu Commercial Bench II with 565 total cases, Commercial Bench I with 471, Civil Bench 477, Criminal Bench with 463 and the Family and Child Bench with 431 cases.
High Court registered 337 appeals from the District Courts, 18 appeals from Bhutan Alternative Dispute Resolution Center, and 14 others, which, together with 39 cases pending from 2024, brought the total caseload to 408 cases.
As of the end of 2025, 31 cases remained pending before the High Court.
High Court affirmed 189 judgments of the District Courts appealed to it and partially reversed 126 judgments.
Supreme Court registered 163 new appeals from the High Court. Together with 54 cases pending from the previous year, and few review cases, the total caseload for the year stood at 219 cases. 40 cases remained pending at the end of the year.
Overall, the pending case in 2025 was 1,206 and pending beyond 12 months was 102 cases.
In addition to their core adjudicatory function, courts across the country provided various notary services, including the issuance of marriage certificates, attestation of documents, child adoption, closure of bank accounts, and transfer of shares.
The twenty Dzongkhag Courts delivered the highest number of notary services, totalling 12,154.
Similarly, the Dungkhag Courts provided 2,096 notary services. The issuance of marriage certificates constituted the largest category of notary services rendered by both the Dzongkhag Courts and the Dungkhag Courts, numbering 5,295 and 1,532 respectively.
Meanwhile, the High Court conducted interviews and reviewed 111 applications for Foreign Marriage Certificates, of which 28 were approved, and the corresponding Marriage Certificates were issued in 2025.
1,604 cases were successfully mediated. The majority of these took place at the Dzongkhag level with 1,390 cases.
The Judiciary generated Nu 47.345 million (mn) in revenue. The capital budget was Nu 40 mn and a current budget was Nu 21.863 mn.
