Dhaka, Jan 01 – Law Minister Anisul Huq yesterday informed that the government made a master plan to reduce five to six lakh cases from the existing backlog
of the cases within this year.“Our aim to dispose of five to six lakh cases from the existing backlog of the cases. It is not unreal to reduce the five to six lakh cases within a year,” the law minister came up with the comments while talking to reporters after attending as chief guest to the inauguration of a training course for the assistant judges at Judicial Administration Training Institute in Dhaka.
He said that it is not possible to dispose of all the 31 lakh pending cases within a year but it is not unreal to reduce five to six lakh cases in the same time.
The law minister said that the government would take the necessary steps and increase manpower to the lower judiciary to fulfil its target in reducing the backlog of cases pending before the courts across the country.
He said that the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) system should exercise massively in order to increase the disposal of a backlog of cases. The judges of the lower courts have to inform the lawyers and plaintiffs about the benefit of exercising the ADR system in disposing of the cases. If the ADR system will work properly, the backlog of cases would reduce quickly, he noted.
In response to a query, the law minister said that he had already talked to the chief justice about this issue and the government would take initiatives so that more cases are disposed of outside the court through compromise under the ADR system.
In response to another query, the law minister said that the government would take initiative for conducting necessary training to the lower court judges so that they could encourage the citizens to settle their cases through the ADR.
Replying to another query, he said that the people’s fate on the judiciary has increased in the last ten years during the regime of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led government.
The lawyers would not create any hindrance in disposing the cases under ADR as the trust of the people has been increased on the judiciary in the last 10 years, the law minister noted.
Earlier, the law minister inaugurated 4-month-long training programme for the 45 assistant judges where law secretary Golam Sarwar, judicial training institution director-general Justice Khandaker Musa Khaled and course director Golam Kibria were also addressed among others. – Staff Reporter
