Help judges for quick disposal of cases, CJ urges lawyers

Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha today urged the lawyers to cooperate with the judges to settle the cases quickly and to reduce their backlog.

“I have seen in many areas that the lawyers are not willing to cross-examine case witnesses after 3:00pm. Besides, lawyers take frequent adjournments from the courts during hearings of the cases,” the CJ said.

If the lawyers do not cooperate, it is not possible for the judges to reduce backlog of cases,” he said while speaking at the inauguration of a seminar as chief guest.

The CJ said the judges and lawyers must admit that in majority of the cases, they are unable to ensure dispensation of justice within a reasonable time.

“We have a huge backlog of cases which is causing further delay in the disposal of new cases. … Delay makes justice expensive and instigates people to resort to extra-judicial means of dispute resolution,” he said.

The chief justice said the huge backlog of cases was not created in a couple of years.

“The judges and lawyers alone are not responsible for this. One example is the promulgation of Arpita Somptti Prottarpon Ain and constitution of Survey Tribunal which have added thousands of new cases to the registrar but no new judges or supporting staff have been appointed and extra courts constituted,” he said.

Justice SK Sinha said, “In fact, backlog of cases is an outcome of collective failure of all stakeholders. But what is the public perception about this? The common people point fingers at us since the judges and lawyers are the main stakeholders of the system”.

The judiciary needs to enhance its overall capacity through continuous reforms and innovation to promote people’s confidence, he said.

The seminar on “Justice Sector Coordination: Challenges and Opportunities” was organised by United Nations Development Programme at Jagannath-Sohel Memorial Auditorium of Dhaka Bar Association.