Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain has asked district and sessions judges and chief judicial magistrates to show zero tolerance towards corruption and any irregularity in providing justice and other services in courts.
In a closed-door meeting with district and session judges and chief judicial magistrates in the Supreme Court auditorium yesterday, the chief justice (CJ) also asked them to keep themselves above corruption, ensure integrity and utilise their time at the office in discharging duties.
Several participants told the Dhaka Tribune that these were among the major issues discussed in the meeting.
“We shall not accept any irregularity in dispensing justice and court services,” a participant quoted the CJ.
The district judges and chief judicial magistrates yesterday came to the SC to attend a daylong national seminar on “Case Management Committees: Objectives, work modality and way forward.”
The seminar, organised by the Judicial Strengthening Project (JUST) and jointly implemented by the SC and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), had an open inaugural session in the morning and a working session until 4:30pm.
The closed-door meeting was held between the two sessions. It mostly focused on how judges and magistrates could reduce trial time, solve the longstanding problem of huge case backlog and better utilise office time to discharge duties, meeting sources said.
The chief justice asked the district judges to take all necessary measures if they received any allegation of corruption against their subordinate judges, said a source.
The CJ suggested that if the district judges could not take action or face any obstacle in taking steps against corruption, they should let the Supreme Court know about it. The apex court would then take the necessary actions.
According to several sources, case backlog was one of the major issues of discussion in the meeting. At present, a staggering total of 2.7 million cases are pending with various courts across the country.
The CJ said the judges, whose families live in Dhaka, leave their workplaces early on Thursday afternoon and return late on Sunday morning, thus wasting working hours.
The judges are expected to work from 9am to 4pm everyday with a break for lunch. But the CJ yesterday said that they had information about many judges who did not come to their courts on time in the morning and leave early.
A participant of the meeting said case disposal had become a lengthy process and huge backlog of cases was causing further delay. As a result, cost of litigation for justice seekers had also been rising.
While discussing this, the performance of the Mymensingh district court had been cited as model. The Mymensingh district court reportedly disposed of around 57,000 cases in a year. Considering this performance as a model, other district courts could develop their case management system, the meeting reportedly discussed.
The source also said except for criminal cases, importance was given to discussions on the prospects of disposing of civil cases through alternative mediation.
Meanwhile, in the inaugural programme of the seminar, which media was allowed to cover, the issues of mediation and backlog were widely discussed.
The CJ said: “Oral submissions or argument hearing in the court have been made time bound. The culture of unnecessary and lengthy court hearing has to end.”
The CJ emphasised on reducing backlog of cases and asked the law minister, who was present at the programme, to take necessary steps to amend existing laws to bring changes to the trial procedures.
“There is no denying the fact that the number of cases in the subordinate courts and tribunals has increased manifold...The growth in population, coupled with increased rights awareness at the grassroots, are also responsible for this unusual rise.”
Citing Malaysia’s example, the CJ said some countries have replaced courtroom examination of key witnesses with signed statements in some cases. “This has significantly reduced trial time in those countries without compromising the equality of justice,” he said.
The chief Justice stressed implementation of “mediation” - a way of resolving disputes between two or more parties with concrete effects – in every civil case. He said it had become an important tool for reducing backlog of civil cases. “It is neither feasible nor desirable that all civil cases shall go through trial process and be ended with a judicial verdict,” he said.
“The judiciaries in USA, Canada, Australia, Malaysia and Philippines are tackling the waves of new civil cases by adopting the court-annexed mediation for disposal of civil cases and appeals. In Canada, about 80% and in the USA, about 90% of the civil cases are disposed of through mediation,” he added.
Law Minister Anisul Huq said: “We all must admit that there has been an unusual rise in the number of cases of every class. Nearly all cases are disposed of through judicial process of trial or hearing...Trial process itself takes some time, therefore it is not realistic to expect that every case instituted in the court shall go through judicial trial process.”
He also said: “We have made mediation compulsory for every civil case by amending section 89A and 89C of the Code of Civil Procedure in 2012. But the date of commencement of the amendment has not been notified through publication in the official gazette.”
Yesterday’s seminar was facilitated by SM Kuddus Zaman, acting registrar of the Supreme Court. Paulin Tamesis, UNDP country director, also addressed the inaugural session.