Atowar Rahman :
I’m a justice seeker and victim of pending cases back-log in the country as my father was killed in 2011 by his rivals over ownership of a piece of land in our village in Nilphamari district. I am moving around the verandah of the courts for last five years while the case is still at initial stage though the concerned judges are trying heart and soul to relieve the sufferings.
As I’ve gathered some experiences about the problems of our judiciary, I would like to focus on the matter in regards to the retirement age of the experienced judges.
It is learnt that the retirement age limit for judges in Europe, America, Australia and most other countries in the world is above 62 years.
In Indo-Pakistan sub continent, the retirement age of lower court judges is 60 years or slightly higher. For example, it is 62 years in Pakistan and 60 years in India.
In Bangladesh, the retirement age of the judges in High Court and Supreme Court is 67 years while that of lower courts is only 59 years, which seems to many as discriminatory.
It may be noted that even the retirement age of University teachers in Bangladesh is 65 years.
The job of the judges is regarded as a specialized service for the country as it takes enough time to get an experienced and expert judge for which government has to spend a lot of money, energy and facilities.
The average life span of the citizens in the country has increased due to positive impact of socio-economic advancements and accessibility of common people to modern health services.
If the judges are made to retire at the age of only 59-year like other general services, the number of experienced judges will decrease sharply.
In that case, hard working, energetic and skilled judges will be compelled to lead inactive life depriving the whole nation of their valuable service.
Honourable Chief Justice Mr Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha in his speech on the occasion of annual conference arranged by Bangladesh Supreme Court in December 2015, conveyed an alarming message to the whole nation that more than 100 judges of the lower courts throughout the country will go on retirement by the year 2016.
The CJ also pointed out that with the bulk retirement of judges, the entire judiciary would face acute shortage of qualified and experienced judges in the courts below and for over-coming the crisis situation he suggested that their retirement age limit should be extended by at least one more year. After the statement of the Chief Justice, the issue to increase judges’ retirement age limit got a new momentum. But after few days, the matter lost momentum due to unknown reason.
Mentionably, Bangladesh Supreme Court in an observation recommended for increasing the retirement age limit of freedom fighter officers and employees upto 65 years but the Cabinet Division rejected the suggestion.
Regarding the verdict of ‘Mazdar Hossen” case, it is learnt, a proposal was tabled to increase the retirement age limit of the judges by two years and the Prime Minister also put her signature on that file last year.
But fate of the file is stalled now and question arises who is that invisible element strong enough to suppress the file even recommended by the PM.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs recommended years ago to increase service age of lower court judges by two years.
But the suggestion is still unheeded to and the govt.’s silence in this regard is unexplained.
Due to this indifference and lack of far-sightedness of the concerned authorities, the talented and knowledgeable judges are going to retirement one after another making the judiciary relatively unskilled and less experienced and the people seeking justice becoming the hard sufferers.
When relatively new and inexperienced judges will replace the skilled ones and conduct judiciary, the entire system is apprehended to be hampered or it may even collapse.
The post of experienced judges becoming vacant day by day in most of the districts and it is feared that the volume of pending cases will take a horrifying turn leading the whole nation to a chaotic situation and justice seekers would be subjected to untold harassment.
Moreover, as information gathered, it is known that the judges are now passing days in deep frustration as their increased pay scale is still to be notified in the government gazette.
In this situation, I would, as a justice seeker, fervently request the PM to please look into the matter to settle the issue of increasing the retirement age limit of the judges of the courts below so that they can provide their valuable services to the justice seekers and the nation as well. We are hopeful that the PM will take a pragmatic decision and the entire judiciary will thus be saved from impending disaster.
