Judiciary in woes due to insufficient allocation in budget

A very old headache resurfaces during the unveiling of the national budget. I have written a number of articles over the reasons for the pain, published in Prothom Alo between 2016 and 2018. Apart from this, an interview was also published in 2022.

A seminar over the matter had been organised at the Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs (BILIA) a decade ago. A snowball effect of all of these has become visible. An article titled “Let the judiciary get rid of discrimination in budget allocation” by lawyer MM Khalequzzaman was published on 18 May ahead of the unveiling of the next national budget.

Let me digress a bit - a familiar middle aged woman went to Dhaka district court around two weeks ago. When we met after two days, she asked, “Do you know how long the queue was for the lift?” She complained that she felt nausea due to the stinks in the court area.

I am not citing her statements to criticise anyone from the court area. Rather, this is a warning message in advance of the good experiences one might have to the people who are still not lucky enough to visit the area. However, it needs to be mentioned that new buildings have been constructed in some districts. Situation in those areas has improved a bit.

A new building named “Bijoy 71” has been constructed in the Supreme Court. People wait in queue in front of the lift in that building in the morning. But I don’t need to wait due to my age. Junior lawyers give me scope to go ahead.

Readers know there is a revenue budget and a development budget. But we have not found this classification for the Supreme Court in the budget documents published by the government.

A total of Tk 1.96 billion was allocated for the Supreme Court in the 2018-19FY, Tk 2.09 billion in 2022-23 and Tk 2.37 billion in the 2023-24FY. Nowadays a four-lane highway is being constructed at a cost of Tk 1 billion. That means, it is difficult to construct more than two kilometres of road with the money allocated for the Supreme Court. Who knows what would be the allocation if a 250-metre bridge needs to be constructed within the two-kilometre stretch of the highway.

2.

A total of Tk 15.89 billion was allocated for the law, justice and parliamentary affairs ministry in 2018-19 fiscal year while it increased to Tk 20.86 billion in 2021-22FY. The allocation was Tk 22.22 in the 2023-24 fiscal year. Roughly, the allocation increases by Tk 2 billion annually.

There are around 2,000 judges in the lower courts across the country. Of them, 200-300 remain on deputation in the ministry or go abroad for higher education. That means, the law and justice for the 170 million people are being accomplished by 1700 judges at the cost of just over Tk 20 billion.

The result of this meagre allocation is evident. On 30 April 2024, Dainik Kalbela published a report titled “Backlog of cases increased by 600,000 despite an announcement of the minister”. According to the report, “The number of under trial cases rose to 4.3 million across the country till December last year. The total number of such cases was 2,135,000 a decade ago. In the span of a decade, the cases doubled.”

The report further said the under trial cases across the country were 3.7 million till January 2021. The backlog of cases increased by 600,000 to reach 4.3 million.

Like the columns over the law, justice and parliamentary affairs ministry in the past, I cannot but mention the fisheries and livestock ministry. As the Eid-ul-Azha is nearing, like in the past it would be said that around 10 million cattle are ready. So far I understand it is not a contribution of the fisheries and livestock ministry to talk loudly about 10 million cattle.

However, the ministry conducts research, advises the cattle raisers, imposes a ban on jhatka catching and carries out some other responsibilities. A total of Tk 31.96 billion was allocated for the ministry to carry out these responsibilities in 2021-22 fiscal year. This was increased to Tk 42.40 billion in the 2023-24FY. The allocation is double of the law, justice and parliamentary affairs ministry. We are not saying that we will not eat fish, goats and cows. But more budgets should be allocated for the law, justice and parliamentary affairs ministry.

3.

Whenever a budget season arrives, different quarters get busy negotiating with the finance ministry over the allocation of funds.

We have a statutory institution called Bangladesh Bar Council. To be an advocate, it requires passing rigorous written and viva examinations conducted by the bar council. Around 51,000 LLB graduates sat for the bar council examinations last year, and only a little over 3,000 managed to pass. The successful candidates can now identify themselves as advocates and represent clients.

The bar council has done a commendable job, by making the bar examinations tough. It would have been better if the bar council had also raised voice about the inadequate funding for law and justice. The justice-seeking people are crushed under the weight of a stockpile of cases. There is little sympathy for the indescribable hardship of appearing in courts for months, years, or even decades in various cases, including criminal and civil cases. There are bar associations in each district, but they keep mum on this issue.

Another peculiar thing is that our government lacks a dedicated cadre service for lawyers. The lawyers who, on behalf of the government, are responsible for proving the accused guilty in criminal cases, there are no formal rules regarding their appointment, tenure, or dismissal. Everything is left on the blessings of ‘Hujurs’ (the employing authority).

Across the world, attorney generals, and additional attorney generals in some cases, are appointed at the discretion of the government, much like the cabinet members. Other than the top two positions, there is a system like the cadre service for recruiting candidates in the descending positions, through written and viva examinations. It serves as a cadre service for their service life.

The absence of a 'law cadre' in our state leads to two main issues – prolonged cases and a high rate of the state losing cases. Although the government does not provide specific data, we assume that the conviction rate in criminal cases in our country is around 20 per cent, excluding the cases of leaders and activists of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

To sum up, the budget allocation for the judiciary should be increased. In a country of 170 million people, it is quite impossible to ensure a fair and effective judicial system with only 1,700 judges.

* Shahdeen Malik is a lawyer of Bangladesh Supreme Court and teaches law at the University of Asia Pacific.

* This column appeared in the print and online editions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Rabiul Islam and Misbahul Haque