Case backlog caught in warp of inaction on several fronts

THE chief justice has said that a total of only 2,000 judges struggle to dispose of more than four million cases pending with courts. He made the remark on May 7 as he inaugurated a television show that Bangladesh Television will telecast to create awareness of laws and rights. The move of the national television station is a good piece of news, but the remark of the chief justice brings to the fore the issues of case backlog, the delay in trial and a poor state of the justice delivery system. There are about 4.05 million cases, in fact, keeping to Supreme Court records, pending as of September 2023. Of the cases, 528,583 were pending with the Supreme Court and 34,98,634 with subordinate courts. And, the state of the disposal of cases can be easily surmised as there are about 2,000 lower court judges and 93 Supreme Court judges, who include 84 in the High Court Division and 8 in the Appellate Division. The remark of the chief justice that it even takes 10 years to dispose of one case only paints a bleak picture. This so does as the parties to the case, meanwhile, lose everything.

Delay in the disposal of cases that have been pending has prolonged judicial proceedings and held back, or even denied, justice that all — the offenders, the wronged and their family and others — cry for. Even the minister for law, justice and parliamentary affairs admits, as New Age reported in July 2023, that an increased number of pending cases has been a matter of concern as, especially, poor litigants suffer most because of the inordinate delay in case disposal. More than a thousand death references, as New Age reported on April 7 quoting the officials concerned, have also been pending with the High Court. Former judges and experts have always blamed the lack of oversight on part of the Supreme Court for the huge case backlog. Almost everyone suggests an increase in the number of judges to resolve the backlog as a measure to deal with such a huge number of pending cases. An increase in the number of judges could ease the case backlog by an extent and this could be done as far as possible, but could not be the only solution to the problem. There is inadequacy in the justice dispensation system, involving both the prosecution and the defence that should be attended to in a holistic approach. Lawyers suggest an enhanced oversight on part of the prosecution and the defence to expedite the process.

The law minister in 2023 said that the reason for the backlog of cases would be investigated. The investigation does not appear to have been carried out. There must be, therefore, an appropriate arrangement that could clear the case backlog to expedite justice dispensation. An early disposal of the cases is a must.