Justice Sector Pledge Ceremony – Towards commemorating the 70th Birth Anniversary of His Majesty The Fourth Druk Gyalpo
On 1 November 2025, coinciding with the 17th Coronation Day of His Majesty The King, Her Royal Highness Princess Sonam Dechan Wangchuck, Hon’ble President of the Bhutan National Legal Institute, graced the Justice Sector Pledge Ceremony at the Supreme Court of Bhutan. The event, held in commemoration of the 70th Birth Anniversary of His Majesty The Great Fourth Druk Gyalpo, was inspired by His Majesty The King’s vision to transform Bhutan’s legal system into one of the best in the world within the next decade. During the event, the Heads of 11 Justice Sector institutions took an oath administered by Venerable Laytshog Lopen Rinpoche to transform Bhutan’s legal system into one that is agile, responsive, and citizen-centric through innovation, coordination, and steadfast dedication.
In a sublime reaffirmation of their commitment to uphold justice, integrity, and accountability, and to complement the collective Justice Sector Pledge, the Heads of the respective Justice Sector institutions presented their agencies’ pledges, outlining key deliverables for the year ahead.
Over the next one year, the ACC pledged to deliver the following:
- Ensure expeditious justice service delivery by maintaining the average turnaround time (TAT) for complaint evaluation to less than 35 working hours and by referring the cases for prosecution or administrative actions within an average TAT of 70 working days from the date of assignment;
- Enhance investigative efficiency by ensuring that complaints pending assignment for investigation for over a year are reduced to below 50 percent, while improving the prosecution referral rate to 76 percent;
- Develop a Digital Blueprint for the Justice Sector to reinforce collaboration and system interoperability, laying the foundation for seamless data integration and coordinated workflows across justice institutions, an essential step toward achieving a transparent, data-driven, and citizen-centered justice system;
- Strengthen its proactive investigation ratio to 50 percent, ensuring that emerging risks are addressed before they manifest into complex and systemic corruption;
- Intensify efforts to reduce corruption-related complaints against law enforcement and regulatory agencies to below 3.15 percent, institutionalize the Integrity Vetting System across the Justice Sector, and improve the completion rate of the e-learning course on Ethics and Integrity Management in the justice sector to 70 percent;
- Roll-out Agency Integrity Maturity Score (AIMS) across Justice Sector institutions to assess and advance organizational integrity standards; and
- Complete a comprehensive review of its existing anti-corruption approaches to ensure alignment with the Diamond Strategy.
The Pledge Ceremony was also attended by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of Bhutan, Speaker of the National Assembly, Members of the Parliament, and senior officials from the Justice Sector.
