Lower courts to get 215 new judges

The process for recruiting 215 new lower courts judges is underway to fill vacant posts and ease the massive case backlog.

Bangladesh Judicial Service Commission (BJSC) has already picked 100 candidates through holding tests and initiated the process of selecting another 115 for the posts of lower court judges.

The commission nominated 100 candidates and around four months ago recommended the law ministry appoint them, BJSC Secretary Paresh Chandra Sharma told The Daily Star on May 27.

A preliminary test was held on May 20 for selecting 115 candidates in which 1,225 came out successful. They will now take written exams, he said.

Only the successful examinees will be called for viva. Sharma hoped that all the exams would be completed within this year.    

According to law ministry sources, the ministry has sent the list of 100 candidates to the home ministry for police verification.

After completion of verification, the list would be sent to the president through the prime minister for approval.

Upon approval, the law ministry would appoint candidates in consultation with the Supreme Court.     

Speaking at a programme on January 18, Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha stressed the need for doubling the number of judges in lower courts.

The courts now have some 1,600 judges. Around 27 lakh cases have been pending with them for years, said sources in SC and law ministry.

Around 400 posts of lower court judges have been lying vacant now as many judges either retired or got promoted in recent years.

The Law Commission in September 2014 had recommended recruiting 3,000 judges for lower courts for quick disposal of cases and easing the suffering of justice seekers.

Successive governments have so far appointed around 1,000 assistant judges and judicial magistrates through the BJSC since its formation in 2007.