MK Hossain
Judiciary is a key governance and rule of law institution in a country which upholds the rule of law by resolving society’s disputes in a fair, timely and equitable manner. The constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in Article 35 explicitly recognises the right “to a speedy and public trial by an independent and impartial court or tribunal for every person.”
The United Nations General Assembly has also repeatedly underscored that an independent judiciary, among other things, is essential to the full and non-discriminatory realisation of human rights and indispensable to democratisation processes and sustainable development.
Backlog of cases is the biggest impediment in the judicial system of Bangladesh delaying the process of justice to the people which is a fundamental human right. Bangladesh currently has 2.8 (2861003 cases) million cases backlogged in different courts leaving millions of people unable to access legal redress to their complaints.
Presently, UNDP in partnership with the Supreme Court of Bangladesh is implementing Judicial Strengthening (JUST) Project which works to ensure access to justice by addressing delays and backlogs of cases. This backlog creates considerable pressure on the courts and leads to increased difficulties for people to access justice.
Supported by United Nations Development Program (UNDP) the Supreme Court of Bangladesh for the first time in its history has undertaken steps to address this issue. Under JUST project, the Supreme Court has formed seven case management committees (CMCs) in February 2013. Four of these CMCs are in the High Court division on civil, criminal, writ and original jurisdiction of cases and the rest are in three pilot district courts of the project, namely Dhaka, Kishoreganj and Rangamati.
As per the project outline, the committee meets once in every month at the pilot courts to identify the loopholes associated with the backlog and provides solutions to reduce delay and to remove barriers to improve access to justice, especially for the disadvantaged and vulnerable groups. The committees monitor the number of cases received and their timely processing. When delays or other procedural bottlenecks occur, they address the challenges locally and provide recommendations to the chief justice of Bangladesh.
Under the auspices of the case management committee, judges and lawyers work together for timely, and effective resolution of cases by scheduling early, strict trial dates and to encourage to use mediation for resolving disputes. Judges now categorise and prioritise cases as part of case screening and set up monthly target for each judge for quick disposal especially for the old cases.
In addition to Dhaka, Kishoreganj and Rangamati, case management committees have been set up in two more district courts, namely in Rajshahi and Rangpur in 2014 and as a result, 12,000 cases have been reduced from the backlogs in those five district courts in 2014.
It is estimated that compared to 2013 government expenses worth Tk21,265,530 have been minimised due to an increase in national case disposition in 2014 by 178966 cases. Estimated average cost of litigation has been reduced from Tk94500 to Tk79380 (Tk15120 per case) by the litigant through reduction in court dates. According to a survey by UNDP, litigants have to visit the court on an average 63 times. The survey also shows that the average duration of a civil case disposal is 5.3 years and that of a criminal case is 3.7 years, but now it has been reduced to 56 from 63 thanks to the functioning of the case management committees. Thus, compared to 2013 some Tk2708113512 has been saved by the litigants in 2014.
Supported by UNDP, the case management committee helped increase the case disposal rate from 74% to 98%. During this short period since the inception of the project, the CMCs have been active freeing up valuable resources and improving the services of these courts. Following the successes of CMCs in the three pilot district courts in tackling case backlogs, the Supreme Court special committee for the judicial reforms expanded CMCs in 64 district courts and five metropolitan cities of Bangladesh.
As per Supreme Court directives, the district and sessions judge and the metropolitan sessions judge will head the CMCs of their respective courts. Other members of the district CMC committee include the Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal judge, the special judge, the additional district judge, the chief judicial magistrate, the district public prosecutor, the district government pleader, the district bar association president, and the district bar association secretary.
The Metropolitan courts’ CMCs consist of the metropolitan special judge, the chief metropolitan magistrate, the additional metropolitan sessions judge, the metropolitan public prosecutor, the district bar association president, and the district bar association secretary. CMCs will sit for meetings at least once a month. Representatives of the police, the civil service, the district administration and others will also attend as observers. Any cost occurring to operate the activities of the committee shall be borne by the government budget.
The writer has 15 years of experience in judicial communication.
Source:
http://www.dhakatribune.com/juris/2014/dec/11/case-management-committee-reduce-backlog-cases#sthash.XSlK9UbI.XXs86HGl.dpuf
