The administration of judicial or justice delivery system in Bangladesh is time consuming and un-affordable to the poor people. A case usually takes about ten to twenty years on average from date of filing to date of judgment. Our district court judges are the administrator of the district court, responsible for managing, scheduling and delivering decisions. Justice delayed justice denied is one of the principles of equity. Public confidence in our legal system is lost. Our Law Minister Barrister Moudud Ahmed in a recent workshop said that our present judicial system is old, traditional and corrupt and needs reform. He informed that a total of Ten million (96, 83, 305) cases are now pending in different courts of the country and under existing procedure hundred years will be required for disposal. The breakup of this backlog is: 4,946 cases in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court; 1, 27, 244 cases in the High Court Division, 3,44,518 civil cases and 95,689 criminal cases in the Judges courts and 2,96,862 cases with Magistrate courts and 99,004 cases with Metropolitan Magistrate courts. Independence of judiciary, amendment of existing laws, alternative dispute resolution, case management by judges, court administration by court administrators - are a few recommendations came from our donors and development partners.
Legal reform committees and commissions in Bangladesh
Several legal reform committees and commissions have been formed since the independence of Pakistan in 1947.The recommendations (both legal and administrative) of those committees and commissions include, inter alia,to create Judicial Ombudsman, Commercial Courts, setting time limit for disposal of both civil and criminal cases. The Government has tried fixing time limit with repeated amendments of Cr. P. C within which hearing and different steps in both civil and criminal cases are to be completed. Unfortunately defects in penalty provision for not following the time limits led the judges go on disposing cases in their own way and the result is the judicial logjam of today. The government enlarged number of magistrate courts, district courts and divisions of the High Court for speedy disposal of cases. Recently the government under its legal reform programme has enacted Speedy Trial Tribunal Act, 2002 and formed six speedy trial tribunals for early settlement of certain cases. This is the century of specialization, the world around us developed and developing. We must move fast in accepting latest modern technology of court administration and case management and not waste time lagging behind.
The judiciary must play proactive role in meeting new issues, challenges and developments and also must see that the disadvantaged and vulnerable groups in society i.e. the poor, women and marginalized sections are not denied access to justice either because they are not aware of laws or they are unable to bear the financial or social costs of justice.
Legal reforms in Bangladesh
Our law minister in a recent seminar on "Rule of Law and Judiciary in Bangladesh" said that the present government is working continuously to establish an independent Human Rights Commission, Anti-Corruption Commission, an Ombudsman to ensure rule of law in the country. He also mentioned the work in progress of comprehensive reform for judicial capacity building, train up judges and lawyers, and remove flaws from the judicial system. Recently Law Commission on reference from the government on flaws in the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1898 submitted its report incorporating recommendations for necessary changes to sections 54 and 167 of the CrPC. The government plans to introduce Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in judicial system to ensure justice by amending the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. ADR introduced earlier in Family Courts of 15 districts as pilot project has been proved successful and envisaging introducing the same to other districts. The government had recently decided to establish separate investigation unit and law and order unit in all thanas of the country with their own manpower and to work independently under the supervision of the OC of the respective thanas. Manpower of one unit will not be transferred to the other unit before three years and DIG or Metropolitan Police Commissioner will be competent authority for such transfer after three years, unless otherwise in emergency cases by the IGP.
M. M. Yussouf is a management consultant and former Administrator, Legal & Judicial Capacity Building Project of World Bank in Bangladesh.
JAFAR IQBAL
Department of Real Estate
