by Emran Hossain Sheikh in Dhaka Tribune, Aug 31, 2023
The number of pending cases in Bangladesh has doubled in the last 15 years due to the crisis of judges. Currently, as many as 4.2 million cases are pending in the country’s different courts.
There is only one judge for every 94,444 people in Bangladesh. On the other hand, neighbouring India has one judge for every 47,619 people and Pakistan for every 50,000 people.
The information surfaced after a report by the Law Commission was published recently. The Law Commission has prepared this report with recommendations for speedy disposal of cases. It has highlighted several reasons behind the backlog of cases, including an acute shortage of judges.
The report was presented at a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Law and Justice held at the National Parliament building on Tuesday. The report identified the shortage of judges as the main reason for the backlog of cases. The statement of the Law Commission was considered in the meeting, but the committee did not discuss it in detail. In the next meeting, they will discuss the report and make recommendations to the government, committee sources said.
The report compares the number of judges with the country’s population of 170 million. If this number is divided by the number of judges present in other courts, including district and session judge’s courts in Bangladesh, it can be seen that there is only one judge for over 94,000 people. In the West, there is a judge for 3,186 people in the UK and 10,000 in the United States.
Despite the separation of the judiciary from other entities of the state, the true independence of the judiciary remains a golden deer, the report added. It further mentioned that the judiciary has never received due importance from the government.
According to the report, in 2008, there were 6,892 pending cases in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. In December 2022, the number of pending cases stood at 19,928. In 2008, there were 293,901 pending cases in the High Court Division. In 2022, it increased to 516,674. In the same year, there were 1,489,121 cases in other courts, including district and session judge’s courts.
In December 2022, the pending cases increased to 3,660,001. The total number of pending cases in the courts of the country, including the High Court, was 4,196,603 as of December 31 last year.
If swift action is not taken to resolve this unusual caseload, the judiciary will collapse along with public confidence in the justice system, the report said.
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has eight judges, and the High Court has 90. According to this data, there are 2,491 cases per judge in the Appellate Division and 5,741 cases per judge in the High Court. On the other hand, the number of judges in other courts is about 2,000. There are approximately 200 judges on deputation. Accordingly, there are 2,033 cases per judge at the district level.
It should be noted that many courts are managed by acting judges due to the reduced number of magistrates in the chief judicial magistrate’s courts of the country. As a result, a judge has to take on the responsibility of hearing cases in addition to hearing cases in his or her court. Due to this, the judges are often not able to give proper feedback.
Moreover, joint district judges, additional district judges, and district judges serve as judges in various special courts and tribunals. In some cases, a judge has to deal with cases at multiple courts of different types. As a result the justice seekers are paying the price.
According to the report, there is a need to urgently appoint a significant number of judges to reduce the backlog of cases. In this case, if at least 5,000 judges are appointed by creating posts at various levels on an urgent basis, it will be possible to reduce the number of cases to a bearable level.
As an interim solution, if efficient, honest, and competent officials are appointed from among the retired judges of the Judiciary and District Judges in consultation with the Supreme Court, it will be possible to quickly dispose of the pending civil and criminal cases, appeals, and revisions.
When asked about the issue, President of the Parliamentary Standing Committee Shahiduzzaman Sarkar told this reporter that the Law Commission has given a report. The chairman of the commission commented on it. Some practical suggestions were also tabled. However, the committee did not get enough time to discuss the report in detail.
He said that the report will be discussed elaborately at the next meeting of the committee. https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/324006/bangladesh-has-one-judge-for-95-000-people
