An Authority-Aware RAG Framework for Judicial AI in Nepal: Feasibility and System Design

Nepal is putting more of its laws, court judgments and case records online, but this information is still scattered across different websites, formats and languages. Finding a document is only the first step in legal research. A trustworthy system also must answer harder questions: Is this source official? Was this law in force on the date that matters? Does this judgment carry real legal authority? And is every AI-generated statement backed up by the source it cites? This paper examines whether a Judicial AI platform is realistic for Nepal. The proposed design combines verified legal data, hybrid search, Authority-Aware Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), citation verification, security controls, and human oversight. The system is designed to support legal research and decision-making, not to act as an independent judge. The paper reviews international Judicial AI practice and recent developments in Nepal, identifies gaps in legal data and institutions, proposes a practical architecture, and makes a preliminary assessment of technical, data, operational, legal, security, and ethical feasibility. The assessment suggests that a small, carefully governed prototype is realistic for Nepal if it begins with verified public legal sources, clear authority and version rules, measurable testing, and strong human control.