2 Structure of Judiciary (Articles 126–127, 139, 148, 152; 153–156)

1. The pyramid (Article 127): Supreme Court → High Court (one per province — Article 139) → District Court (one per district — Article 148) — with two constitutional satellites: the specialized courts (Article 152: by law, for special types of cases — no court for a particular case; the >1-year-imprisonment rule: such offences only triable by courts, specialized courts, military courts or judicial bodies) and the local-level judicial institutions (127(2): ADR-and-adjudication bodies under the District Court's supervision — 148(2); with the local Judicial Committees of Article 217 as the elected-justice tier); 2. The appointment-and-service machinery: the Judicial Council (Article 153) — Chair: the CJ; members: the Law Minister, the senior-most SC judge, a presidential nominee (on the PM's recommendation), and a senior advocate/advocate of 20+ years nominated by the Nepal Bar Association — the mixed 3-judge/minister/bar design; recommends appointments (SC justices, HC chief judges/judges, district judges), transfers, and disciplines (except SC justices); maintains the qualification rosters; the Judicial Service Commission (Article 154) — CJ- chair; handles the judicial service (staff) appointments and promotions, with district-judge examination conduits (149(2): the 20%/40%/40% quotas — seniority, internal competition, open competition); 3. The qualifications ladder: SC justice — law bachelor + 7 years HC judgeship, or 15 years' practice/field, or 12 years' judicial service (129(5)); CJ — 3 years as SC judge (129(3));…