Gulam Rabbani :
Case backlog is a long-standing problem of the judiciary. Although various initiatives have been taken at times to solve this problem, there has been no fruitful result.
As of December 31, 2019, more than 35 lakh 65 thousand and 617 cases had been pending with the lower and higher judiciary of the country.
Of them, 5 lakh 12 thousand cases were with the Supreme Court and 30 lakh 53 thousand cases were with the trial courts, said a statistics of the Supreme Court.
Senior lawyers of the Supreme Court said that pending situation of huge number of cases means the litigants are suffering a lot to get justice. It is increasing the cost of managing a case. In many cases, litigants are facing harassment and do not get justice. At the same time, judges are also facing endless burden.
The jurists suggested to form a special committee to find out a solution to reduce the case backlog. They also suggested for classifying the cases into different categories for easy disposing thereof and for strengthening the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) system.
Attorney General AM Amin Uddin said, “The pending cases should be classified into different categories. In that case court could be able to dispose of the same type of cases in a single judgment. I hope the number of the case will go down by doing so.”
Attorney General office is trying to follow the way by dividing the cases into different categories, said the chief law officer of the state adding that they had already got the result in some cases. Besides, he suggested increasing of the number of the judges in the higher and lower judiciary to reduce the case backlog.
Khandker Mahbub Hossain, a Senior jurist and also former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said, “The case ratio is increasing with the increase of the population, but number of courts and the judges are not increasing. So, we should take initiatives to create sufficient courts and appoint judges.”
He also suggested forming a special committee comprising the members of the judges, lawyers and other stakeholders to find out a sustainable solution to reduce the case backlog. He thinks that it is not possible to get out of this problem even in 100 years without taking any special initiatives.
“Police take long time to investigate the cases. They should finish it (investigation) within the stipulated time given to them. Besides, initiative should be taken to strengthen the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) system,” added the lawyer.
Now 92 judges are performing in the High Court Division of the Supreme Court. They are dealing in 4 lakh 89 thousand cases. On average, one judge has to see more than 5 thousand 315 cases.
Apart from this, seven judges of the Appellate Division are conducting trials dividing into two benches. These benches are dealing with more than 23617 cases.
Judges were recruited for the High Court Division on May 31 in 2018 for the last time. 18 judges were appointed that day as the additional judge and all of them were appointed as permanent judge last year. Among the 92 High Court division judges, three have been asked to refrain from judicial activities in 2019.
Although the number of judges has increased comparing with the past, the number of judges in the lower courts is still insufficient to the demand of the justice seekers. Besides, there is also an infrastructural crisis.
The Chief Justice recently instructed the lower court judges across the country to make maximum use of the working hours by avoiding discussions with the subordinate colleagues during the scheduled working hours.
Meanwhile, Virtual operation of the judiciary was launched in the middle of last year to facilitate the litigants and to reduce the case backlog during the coronavirus pandemic. Now both type of courts, virtual and physical, are continuing trial activities.
Lawyers say that they are not enjoying full benefits of the virtual courts as because many lawyers are not accustomed to the virtual system and many of the activities of the virtual system are still done through physical presence. As a result, introduction of this system is not very helpful in reducing case backlog.
Case backlog is a long-standing problem of the judiciary. Although various initiatives have been taken at times to solve this problem, there has been no fruitful result.
As of December 31, 2019, more than 35 lakh 65 thousand and 617 cases had been pending with the lower and higher judiciary of the country.
Of them, 5 lakh 12 thousand cases were with the Supreme Court and 30 lakh 53 thousand cases were with the trial courts, said a statistics of the Supreme Court.
Senior lawyers of the Supreme Court said that pending situation of huge number of cases means the litigants are suffering a lot to get justice. It is increasing the cost of managing a case. In many cases, litigants are facing harassment and do not get justice. At the same time, judges are also facing endless burden.
The jurists suggested to form a special committee to find out a solution to reduce the case backlog. They also suggested for classifying the cases into different categories for easy disposing thereof and for strengthening the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) system.
Attorney General AM Amin Uddin said, “The pending cases should be classified into different categories. In that case court could be able to dispose of the same type of cases in a single judgment. I hope the number of the case will go down by doing so.”
Attorney General office is trying to follow the way by dividing the cases into different categories, said the chief law officer of the state adding that they had already got the result in some cases. Besides, he suggested increasing of the number of the judges in the higher and lower judiciary to reduce the case backlog.
Khandker Mahbub Hossain, a Senior jurist and also former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said, “The case ratio is increasing with the increase of the population, but number of courts and the judges are not increasing. So, we should take initiatives to create sufficient courts and appoint judges.”
He also suggested forming a special committee comprising the members of the judges, lawyers and other stakeholders to find out a sustainable solution to reduce the case backlog. He thinks that it is not possible to get out of this problem even in 100 years without taking any special initiatives.
“Police take long time to investigate the cases. They should finish it (investigation) within the stipulated time given to them. Besides, initiative should be taken to strengthen the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) system,” added the lawyer.
Now 92 judges are performing in the High Court Division of the Supreme Court. They are dealing in 4 lakh 89 thousand cases. On average, one judge has to see more than 5 thousand 315 cases.
Apart from this, seven judges of the Appellate Division are conducting trials dividing into two benches. These benches are dealing with more than 23617 cases.
Judges were recruited for the High Court Division on May 31 in 2018 for the last time. 18 judges were appointed that day as the additional judge and all of them were appointed as permanent judge last year. Among the 92 High Court division judges, three have been asked to refrain from judicial activities in 2019.
Although the number of judges has increased comparing with the past, the number of judges in the lower courts is still insufficient to the demand of the justice seekers. Besides, there is also an infrastructural crisis.
The Chief Justice recently instructed the lower court judges across the country to make maximum use of the working hours by avoiding discussions with the subordinate colleagues during the scheduled working hours.
Meanwhile, Virtual operation of the judiciary was launched in the middle of last year to facilitate the litigants and to reduce the case backlog during the coronavirus pandemic. Now both type of courts, virtual and physical, are continuing trial activities.
Lawyers say that they are not enjoying full benefits of the virtual courts as because many lawyers are not accustomed to the virtual system and many of the activities of the virtual system are still done through physical presence. As a result, introduction of this system is not very helpful in reducing case backlog.
