Judiciary bound to collapse if shortage of judges persists

The country's judicial system is bound to collapse due to an inadequate number of judges, a parliamentary body observed yesterday.

The parliamentary standing committee on law also said the law and order situation also became fragile due to the shortage of judges.

"There are only 1,198 judges in the country at present, meaning there is one judge for 1.52 lakh people. It is impossible to clear the backlog of thousands of cases with this small number of judges," Suranjit Sengupta, chief of the committee, told reporters after a meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.

The senior Awami League leader said recruitments only into the police and Rapid Action Battalion would not help maintain law and order if judges were not appointed accordingly.

"The law enforcers detain criminals and produce them before courts for trial but the proceedings are delayed due to the shortage of judges," he noted.

The parliamentary watchdog recommended that the government should take short-, mid-, and long-term measures to appoint enough judges.

Pointing to the 30 lakh cases pending at different courts across the country, Suranjit said if they were not disposed of, it would cause the judiciary's collapse.

He also said the law, justice, and parliamentary standing committee would discuss the issue with the bar associations' leaders on August 13.

Law Minister Anisul Haque, also a member of the committee, gave assurance of taking measures to recruit judges.

The committee also asked the ministry to take steps for faster adjudication of the August 21, 2004 grenade attack case.