The law commission, formed to help modernise the country’s law and judicial system, is yet to be fully functional due to shortage of manpower and logistic supports although its chairman and two members have been appointed.

Former High Court (HC) judge Justice MA Rashid was appointed chairman of the commission in April this year while former district judge Sunil Chandra Paul was made its member in May.

This week, the government has appointed Prof Shah Alam of Chittagong university as another member of the commission.

Commission Chairman MA Rashid has recently told The Daily Star that the law commission is a research-oriented institution like that of other countries and so it needs a library and sufficient office rooms for its members, officials and staff as well as smooth workingenvironment.

He said the commission's office space is too small to accommodate its officials. Justice Rashid, however, said the government is very sincere to make the commission vibrant by extending its full su pports.

Urging co-operation from all to make thecommission a success, he said "1 think we will be able to overcome the hurdles in making the law commission a professional institution."

Justice Rashid joined his office on April 21 amid serious mismanagement, shortage of manpower and logistic supports in the office.

Sources said there are no rules for appointing permanent office staff for the commission and even no working environment is there.

Ten out of 1.3 official posts of the commission, including that of the chief research officer, two senior research officers and two translation officers, have been remaining vacant for a long time.

Besides, the officials of the commission are taken on deputation from the judicial cadres and they leave this office or are transferred to other offices in a very short time after their joining and they cannot gather sufficient experience of doing the commission's tasks.

The areas in the close proximity to the commission office located on the Old High Court premises are so appalling that these new officials soon after their joining begin to look for better opportunities elsewhere.

The commission had recommended about 200 new laws and amendments since its inception in 1996, but only three/four were adopted during the previous Awami League government while BNP-led 4-party government completely disregarded the recommendations.

The BNP-led government neither accepted a single recommendation nor sought its expert advice while passing 185 laws during its tenure.

The Law Commission Amendment Act 2001 made it mandatory for the parliament to place a report on implementation of the Law Commission's recommendations before its first session every year. Even that was not followed, a commission high official had told The Daily Star earlier. Such utter disregard for the law sprang from a lack of political will, sources said.