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Lower courts need 3,000 more judges

Law commission recommends to the law ministry for reducing backlog of cases

Ashutosh Sarkar
Bangladesh Law Commission has recommended recruiting 3,000 judges at lower courts for quick disposal of pending cases and reducing sufferings of justice seekers.
The commission in a report also observed that most of the lower court judges do not follow relevant rules and regulations while discharging judicial duties, further delaying disposing of cases.
It sent its report to the law ministry and its parliamentary standing committee on June 26. The committee had asked for its suggestions on how to reduce the backlog of cases.
"I have visited many courts in districts while I discharged [duties] as chief justice and a judge of the Appellate Division and the High Court Division for several years and I saw that many judges of those courts did not attend courts on time and did not discharge their duties properly," Law Commission Chairman Justice ABM Khairul Haque toldThe Daily Star on August 19.
He said the judges' dodging duties caused unnecessary delays in finishing trials of cases. It obstructed the delivery of justice and caused sufferings to justice seekers.
There were examples in which some litigants and witnesses had died before their cases had been finished, which was shocking, he said.
Justice Khairul said the deception of those judges could be stopped if the Supreme Court authorities occasionally monitored their activities.
The commission report said several district and sessions judges leave work during office hours every Thursday and return to work around noon on Sunday, without notifying higher authorities concerned.
The judges subordinate to "the morally weak district judges" leave work the same way without permission from the relevant authorities, resulting in serious damage to the whole judicial functions of the judgeship, the report said.
It recommended issuing showcause notices on those judges after getting information on their whereabouts over the telephone during certain holidays and around weekends.
The commission said the judges' leaving work like that must be stopped and their staying at work has to be ensured by any means. The district and sessions judges must inform the registrar of the High Court Division about their leaving work early in writing, accordingto the rules, itsaid.
The High Court has determined the timeframe for the lower court judges -from 9:30am to 4:30pm - for performingjudicial activities on a weekday.
But, according to multiple probe reports, most judges' courts do not go into session at 9:30am and many judges do not even sit in their courtrooms after lunch.
The lower court judges are supposed to record statements of witnesses in a case every day and only have short adjournments as per the rules.
But most judges do not follow the rules and cases have been piling up over the years, according to the report.
The commission strongly recommended that the government, in consultation with the Supreme Court, appoints honest and sincere retired judges on contract for quick disposal of old pending cases.
According to the commission, around 28 lakh cases were pending with the lower courts across the country and 3.25 lakh cases were with the High Court alone.
There are around 1,700 judges in the lower courts and this number was very insufficient considering the backlog, the report said.