5m pending cases by 2020

Unsettled cases in the country increased by 75 per cent between 2008 and 2015, according to court records.

The number of pending cases in all courts stood at 3,156,878 as of 31 December 2016.

This huge backlog has been created as the new cases outnumber the ones settled by the court system.

This trend further suggests that another 10 per cent cases will be added to the current burden of the country's judiciary at the end of the year 2017.

A recent UNDP forecast said the case logjam may reach 5 million by 2020, the year before Bangladesh's golden jubilee when the country is projected to become a middle-mid-income country.

The chief justice, SK Sinha, addressing the recent national judicial conference 2016, called on the judges to expedite disposal of cases to get rid of legal backlog and ensure a fair atmosphere for delivery of justice.

Cautioning that such a huge burden of unsettled cases might bring the judiciary to a standstill, he said, "This can enhance the cost of justice, may discourage people from coming to court, and they may seek extrajudicial means such as money and muscle for securing suitable solution or remedy of their problems."

Two years ago when he took over as chief justice, Justice Sinha took some initiatives to expedite the process and the year 2015 witnessed significant progress. However, the trend could not continue.

Chief justices for the past three decades have been trying to identify reasons of delay in settlement of cases and take steps to address them but the apex court has not been provided with adequate support to do so. Also judges in the lower courts suffer for lack of manpower and infrastructural facilities.

However, sudden deferment of hearing of cases has been identified in different judicial papers as one of the key reasons of the increasing number of cases.

Senior lawyer Amir-ul Islam recommended establishment of a separate secretariat for the High Court. Former law minister Abdul Matin Khosru is in favour of appointing an additional 100 judges in a country with a population of 160 million.

Currently, there are 90 judges in the High Court. The lower courts have around 1,400 active judges.

This means, a High Court judge can supervise and regulate activities of 15 judges on average. Amir-ul Islam, referring to article 109 of the constitution, pointed out that the higher court judges can apply their absolute authority in this regard.

According to court records, the increase in number of pending cases is much higher for the lower courts -- 135 per cent during the period of 2008-2015.

The police in many cases are responsible for the delay in justice delivery, an issue on which the court and the government should have continuous dialogue, think the senior lawyers.

* This report, originally published as an article in Prothom Alo Bangla print edition, is rewritten by Khawaza Main Uddin.