UNB :
Speakers at a virtual discussion on Monday laid emphasis on enacting a new law for establishing city courts in city corporations to settle petty disputes and thus help reduce the backlogs of cases in the judicial system.
They also said the empowerment of common people will get strengthened if city courts can be set up in a planned way in the light of village courts.
Participating in the discussion, Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) Minister Md Tajul Islam welcomed the demand but said some sort of intervention should be there in place to ensure transparency and accountability of such an alternative dispute resolution system.
The virtual discussion programme titled ‘City Court Act: Proposed Outline and Possibility of Implementation’ was organised jointly by the Madaripur Legal Aid Association (MLAA), Citizen’s Platform for SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), and Nagorik Uddyog.
Speaking at the programme, Tajul Islam said he support the initiative for establishing city courts to mitigate the small problems of city dwellers through arbitration.
“I appreciate you as you identify that there’re some separate incidents in the cities that can be resolved through city courts in the light of village ones. But there’s a challenge to ensure transparency of such a court,” he said.
The minister said it has to be worked out first how transparency and accountability can be ensured in the activities of city courts before setting up those to prevent the abuse of power. “Even if any good person goes above accountability, he/she can be derailed.”
Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Atiqul Islam said the formation of city courts is a very timely and justified proposal. “I fully support this proposal and it’s necessary to execute. I think city courts will be nice platforms to resolve trivial problems of the city dwellers and reduce pressure on the formal legal system.”
He said many city dwellers come to him for having their many small problems settled, including land disputes, but the mayor and councillors do not have the legal jurisdiction to do so. “Union Parishads chairmen can resolve such problems through village courts. So, I think, it’s necessary to constitute city courts as soon as possible.”
Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, Convenor of Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, said the urban population is growing by around 3 percent every year. “There’s a projection that around 50 percent of the population of Bangladesh will live in cities by 2035-2040.”
With the rise in population, he said, various problems, relating to land, accommodation, transport, civic amenities, education, healthcare will also increase, and it will create a huge pressure on the traditional legal system. “Many such problems cannot be resolved now easily within a reasonable time for lack of adequate judges.”
