ZCZC
BSS-43
RETIRED-JUDGE-APPOINTMENT
Khairul for appointing retired judges to cut backlog of civil cases
DHAKA, Nov 19, 2019 (BSS) – Chairman of Bangladesh Law Commission,
Justice ABM Khairul Haque has urged the government to appoint retired judges
on contract basis to reduce the backlog of civil cases.
Justice Khairul, also a former Chief Justice of Bangladesh, made the
call while addressing a seminar titled “Timely Disposal of Civil Suits:
Challenges and Way Forward” organised by the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) in Cox’s Bazar on Monday, said a press release here today.
He recommended providing a standard honorarium for mediators, increasing
remuneration of public prosecutors, weekly monitoring of court diaries by
district judges and initiating a digital case tracking system at subordinate
and the Supreme Court levels with the support of UNDP amongst others.
The Law Commission chairman said, “The Code of Civil Procedure was well
drafted. The problem is with the enforcers. For a better trial system, judges
should carefully go through case records before hearing starts and should
announce the date for next hearing in open court in order to discourage
manipulation and corruption by court staff”.
According to the release, on the backdrop of the influx of Rohingyas
into Cox’s Bazar, social tension is gradually rising between Rohingya and
host community resulting in the possibility of increase of cases both in
criminal and civil courts which will be an additional burden to the more than
21,000 civil suits already pending in the Cox’s Bazar District Courts.
UNDP Cox’s Bazar Crisis Response Office, under the Community Recovery
and Resilience Project (C2RP) organized the seminar as a fall-out from the
judicial conference held on November 2, 2019 at Cox’s Bazar District Court in
collaboration with C2RP in which it was recommended to have discussions on
causes of delay in disposal of civil suits and cases, to support both the bar
and bench of Cox’s Bazar to expeditiously dispose civil matters.
In his opening remarks, Trevor D Clark, Head of UNDP Cox’s Bazar Crisis
Response Office said, “UNDP as a body does not interfere in judicial
processes but can support the Judiciary by bringing together some of the best
minds to discuss ways in ensuring timely disposal of civil suits for fairness
and timely access to justice”.
The seminar which was attended by over 12 judges, including the district
and sessions judges and additional chief judicial magistrates, about 30
lawyers, journalist and other stakeholders, explored reasons for case
backlogs and the obstacles in exercising legal provisions in ensuring timely
disposal of civil matters.
BSS/PR/SAH/RY/20:05 hrs