Disposal of Cases
Long delay is HR violation
Says acting Law Commission chief
Long delay in disposal of cases causes a gross violation of human rights of litigants, Prof Shah Alam, acting chairman of the Law Commission, said yesterday.
Time and money of the people are wasted due to prolongation in disposal of cases, which also increases their sufferings in getting justice, he said.
Prof Shah Alam said lawyers were responsible for the delays.
“After conducting a research, I have found that most lawyers take adjournments from courts to linger the proceedings with a view to increasing their earnings”.
Prof Shah Alam made his observations at a discussion, “Ain adda: Reasons behind long delay in disposal of civil cases and ways forward”, in the city yesterday.
The acting chief of the Law Commission also said his office had made several recommendations for the government to update the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC), the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and some laws including the witness protection act in the last three years, but the government did not make any response.
Justice Awlad Ali, former judge of the Supreme Court, said judges had to maintain their office hours strictly to dispose of more cases so that litigants could get justice in a short time and at a minimum cost and the disposal rate increased.
Many district court judges do not stay in the ejlash (courtroom) after 2:00pm, he said, adding that judges should not adjourn the proceedings of cases again and again.
Jurist Shahdeen Malik said the chief justice had to take more initiatives to increase the rate of disposal of cases and to reduce backlog.
More than 85 thousand cases were disposed of at the High Court and 33 thousand cases were filed with this court between October 2010 and May 2011 for some special initiatives taken by the then chief justice ABM Khairul Haque, he said.
Additional Attorney General MK Rahman, Deputy Attorney General Motaher Hossain Saju, SC lawyers ABM Nurul Islam, and Sheikh Aktherul Islam, and Law Commission's Research Officer Umme Saraban Tahura, among others, also spoke at the discussion organised by Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs (Bilia) at its auditorium.
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