Gulam Rabbani :
The ongoing pandemic ha cast big portion of people of our society on the edge of the ditch. The lawyers’ community is no exception. A large portion of the lawyers’ community especially the young lawyers have fallen into a deep financial crisis, as the courts are not functioning for a long time.
Barrister Syed Sayedul Haque Suman, a Supreme Court lawyer, said, “The lawyers did not have road to income for almost two years since Corona started. This is because the courts are not functioning regularly due to the pandemic. … We, the lawyers do not have fixed salary. We receive a fee from clients for providing legal assistance. The lawyers’ families live on the money of this fee. This is the big reality of the legal profession. Our situation is so bad that we lawyers usually try not to let outsiders know about these hardships. But when the back is in the wall, there is nothing to do. Lawyers have become prey of that situation.”
He was speaking in a facebook live program on August 2 on the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) premises.
Addressing the Chief Justice, the lawyer also said, “We don’t have any other alternative way without expecting your grace. Since you have become the Chief Justice
from the legal profession, you must know what is to be done to protect the dignity of the lawyers. I just want to say this, you are our guardian. We hope you will take the necessary steps to protect us.”
Another Supreme Court lawyer Masud Rana recently posted a picture in his facebook wall where it was seen that he was sharing his ride in his motor cycle in need of money. He also urged the Chief Justice to take steps to run the courts at least virtually.
He wrote in his status, “Although there is no income for one year and four months, the living expenses including house rent, chamber rent, bar council and bar association costing have not stopped. The court officers (lawyers) are in dire straits.”
The words of these two lawyers show how hard the young lawyers are spending their days.
Taj Mohammad Sheikh, another Supreme Court lawyer and also a former District and Sessions Judge, said, “There are 8,000 lawyers in the High Court. Among them, there are perhaps a maximum of 1,000 financially sound lawyers. So I appeal to the Chief Justice to open all the courts, even if it is through video conferencing.”
The regular trial proceedings of the courts across the country have almost remained stopped since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic last year. At one point the court proceedings started through virtual process, but it was very irregular.
All the courts of the country were declared closed again from July 1 this year due to new surge of the coronavirus. Only a few benches in the Supreme Court have been kept open now to deal with the urgent cases. This limited version of the court proceedings has been continuing for a long time and has narrowed the way of income of the lawyers across the country.
During the first lockdown imposed in March last year, the lawyers accepted the closure of the courts and later the virtual process of court activities from a thinking that the crisis would end soon. But this crisis is becoming prolonged now. No one knows when it will end.
In the arising situation many lawyers received loans from the respective bars to minimize the crisis. Barrister Ruhul Quddus Kazal, secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), said more than four thousand lawyers of the apex court bar have taken loans from the SCBA fund in the last two years on account of the Covid-19 virus.
Advocate Abdul Baten, President of the Dhaka Bar Association, said around five thousand lawyers of the Dhaka bar applied for loan last year after the court closure following the pandemic. But they could not give loan to more than 1200 lawyers due to the fund shortage.
This is just a fragment of the lawyers’ economic crisis after the court’s regular activities ceased. The same scenarios are prevailing in the other bars across the country. Many lawyers have left their chambers as they could not manage the rent of those during the pandemic period.
Around 60 thousand lawyers enlisted with the Bangladesh Bar Council, the licensing and regulatory body for lawyers in Bangladesh, are working in the Supreme Court and district level courts across the country. Many of them became jobless after the pandemic had started in March last year.
Later the online court was introduced in May last year, but it functioned on a limited scale. Besides, a large number of the lawyers are not accustomed with technology that was needed to conduct cases with the virtual courts.
In the backdrop of the lawyers demand, the Chief Justice opened some physical courts along with the virtual courts towards the end of the last year. But after the starting of the second wave of the coronavirus court functions with physical appearance were again suspended in April this year.
After a long gap all the courts across the country including the Appellate and High Court Divisions of the Supreme Court started their regular operations again from June 20 this year which brought a big relief to the justice-seeking people and the lawyers. But the authority was bound to close the courts again within a short time. The chief justice again suspended all the functions of the lower courts and tribunals since July 1 due to the new wave of the ongoing pandemic.
Only a magistrate will deal with urgent cases in every chief judicial magistrate or chief metropolitan magistrate court and one or more magistrates will deal cases in chief judicial magistrate or chief metropolitan magistrate courts of Dhaka, Chattogram and Rajshahi strictly following health safety guidelines during the strict lockdown period under the constitutional obligation, according to the new decision.
Besides, a regular Appellate Division bench, Chamber Judge’s bench and three High Court Division benches have been kept open to deal urgent cases through only virtual process.
Besides, there is no special arrangement made so far for vaccinating the lawyers in all courts of the country on a priority basis. It has sent the lawyers into the state of deep anxiety. Some of the Supreme Court lawyers have expressed their concern over the issue.
Meanwhile, all the judges of the Appellate Division and High Court Division of the Supreme Court and a portion of the subordinate courts’ judges have already received the vaccine, said Md Saifur Rahman, Spokesperson of the Supreme Court.
Attorney General AM Amin Uddin said, he is trying to make a special arrangement for vaccinating the lawyers in all courts of the country, including the Supreme Court. The issue has already been discussed with the different government departments, he added.
Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Secretary Barrister Ruhul Quddus Kazal said they had made an appeal to the government in last November for vaccinating the lawyers on a special arrangement, but didn’t get any answer.
Recently they have made another appeal to the government through Bangladesh Bar Council, but this appeal has not been addressed yet, added the SCBA Secretary.
The lawyers who have been vaccinated so far have taken it on their own initiative, Barrister Kazal also said.
Jamiul Hoque Faisal, a Supreme Court lawyer who recently got registration for Covid-19 vaccine on his own initiative, said the lawyers demanded for a special arrangement. But our leaders failed to do so, added the lawyer.
Following a writ petition the High Court bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman on June 30 this year observed that the lawyers must be vaccinated on a priority basis subject to availability. The word ‘lawyer’ has to be included with the ‘court’ in the priority list, it also observed.
On 11 April, Supreme Court lawyer Mohammad Abu Taleb filed the writ petition seeking inclusion of all lawyers of the Bangladesh Bar Council with priority in the Covid-19 vaccination program.
Upon hearing the High Court on April 13 issued a rule asking the government to explain within a week, why it should not be directed to have lawyers be given Covid-19 vaccinations on a priority basis.
It also asked the government to explain as to why the exclusion of lawyers from the priority list of vaccinations should not be declared unconstitutional.
People concerned, including the health secretary and director general of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), were asked to respond to the rule within a week.
Prior to that, on March 31, the petitioner sent a legal notice to those concerned by registered post to take effective action in this regard within 24 hours. The lawyer then filed a writ petition for not taking action even after receiving the notice.
Regarding the writ, Mohammad Abu Taleb told reporters, “The list for providing Covid-19 vaccines on a priority basis has been made. But there was no mention of lawyers who do have to come in contact with the public, and furthermore, many lawyers have been infected by the virus.”
On 3 December last year, the Bangladesh Supreme Court Bar Association had urged the Health Secretary to give priority to lawyers and their families for Covid-19 vaccination. They made the request in a letter to the concerned government department.
