Gulam Rabbani :
Enough progress has been made to dispose of cases in last two years as the Judiciary and the Government have taken various effective initiatives in this regard. However, the judges and the litigants are still wrestling to deal with the case backlog.
Law experts said that, the case backlog could be reduced if the facilities and number of judges were increased. The government officials, on the other hand, said that proper implementation of the existing laws could reduce case backlog.
A total of 3 lakh 76 thousand and 820 cases were filed in all courts of the country in 2016. In the same year, 3 lakh 51 thousand and 564 cases were disposed of creating a backlog of 25,256 cases, sources said.
They said that, currently 31 lakh cases are pending in the lower courts and the Supreme Court of the country. The Chief Justice, Surendra Kumar Sinha, pointed it as an ‘incurable disease’. Officials of the Supreme Court said that the number of cases was 15 lakh 70 thousand all over the country on November 1 in 2007, when the Judiciary officially separated from the Executive. Now this number is 31 lakh 56 thousand and 878.
In 2015 and 2016, 27 lakh 60 thousand and 240 cases were disposed of in all courts of the country and this number was 24 lakh 23 thousand and 838 in 2013 and 2014. The disposal rate increased by 14 per cent in 2015 and 2016 from 2013 and 2014.
Some judges of the lower courts said on condition of anonymity that case backlog could be reduced if ‘The Evidence Act, 1972’ was amended and the ‘Alternative Dispute Resolution’ system was done effective. Otherwise, we have to bear the burden of case backlog decades after decades.
They also said that age of existing civil law is 108 years, code of criminal procedure is 118 years and the evidence act is 144 years. Most of the laws are largly ineffective in present socio-economic perspective. So these laws should be amended and use of technology should be increased to give litigant people quick remedy.
Senior advocate and former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association Khandker Mahbub Hossain said that more skilled and capable judges should be appointed to reduce case backlog. Justice could not be secured by amending law only.
General Secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokan said the Chief Justice’s sincerity was required to reduce case backlog. He has to form High Court benches more planned way. Besides, the lower courts should have brought out from the control of the Law Ministry. Now transfer and promotion of the lower courts judges are mostly controlled by the Ministry. So, the judges of the lower courts were more obidient to the Ministry. So they have less reason to feel to dipose of cases.
Another Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court Khurshed Alam Khan said that the Judiciary needed efficient and capable judges who would be able to handle a case very smartly. The lawyers also should be cautious about this. In many cases the lawyers sought time from the court unnecessarily. This practice should be stopped.
