A public interest litigation (PIL) writ petition was filed on Wednesday seeking resumption of the High Court benches with judicial functions during political programmes like hartal or blockade. Talking to newsmen, petitioner Yunus Ali Akand, a lawyer, said he filed the writ petition as no HC bench carries on judicial function for long on the pretext of political programmes like hartal or blockade, resulting in sufferings of the litigant public. Ministers for Home, Finance and Law, Cabinet Secretary, Attorney General, SC Registrar, and Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) have been made respondents to the case. Referring to the state of affairs over judicial functioning in the just-ended year (2013), the writ petitioner mentioned that the High Court bench did not sit for about 90 days out of 177 working days. But the SC Appellate Division bench, International Crimes Tribunals, and all other courts across the country remained active during political programmes like hartal or blockade. Meanwhile, the government has introduced working days on weekly holidays on Friday and Saturday to cope with the loss suffered from hartal and blockade on weekdays, said the petitioner. “We don’t see any effort in this regard either from the government or the Chief Justice of Bangladesh,” said petitioner Yunus. – UNB
