Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Huq said the entire justice system needs to consider adopting more vibrant methods of case management for better service to the justice seekers and lessening the backlog of cases.
“… The legal aid services can also look at its case load in two ways. Its existing cases can be supported through ADR (alternative dispute resolution) and its future case inflow should be diverted towards effective dispute resolution instead of trial,” he said.
Anisul came up with the observations as chief guest on Tuesday at a workshop on setting joint strategy for partnership, jointly organized by NLASO and RoL, GIZ Bangladesh at Six Seasons Hotel in Gulshan.
Chaired by National Legal Aid Services Organization (NLASO) Director and Senior District Judge Md. Aminul Islam, the workshop was also addressed by Deputy Chief of Security Services Division, Ministry of Home Affairs and DNPD of GIZ Project Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, Mohammad Iftekhar Bin Aziz, Deputy Secretary (Opinion-4 and Administration-1) Law and Justice Division as guests of honor.
Law and Justice Division Secretary Abu Saleh Sk. Md. Zahirul Haque also addressed the function as the special guest. Head of Programme, RoL, GIZ Bangladesh Promita Sengupta also spoke on the occasion.
“Now we need to rethink legal aid, in large measure, to determine how to bring the right solution to the right problem, how to address and disposal of cases in a quick, timely and affordable manner, how to use ADR, to prevent small disputes from escalating into large conflicts, how to decrease people’s suffering as they get caught up in courts, police and prisons, and finally how to increase people’s satisfaction with the assistance they receive,” the law minister added.
Tasks are ambitious, but necessary, Anisul said and added since the time of the justice audit, his ministry has increased its resources considerably and have created the post of Legal Aid Officer in all the in Bangladesh and posted Senior Assistant Judges as fulltime District Legal Aid Officer.
He, however, acknowledged, “Much more needs to be done.”
