Thirty-two new assistant judges have been appointed for the lower courts, increasing the number of lower court judges to 1,714.

The law ministry today issued a gazette notification in this regard.

The new judges have qualified in the 10th Bangladesh Judicial Service (BJS) examinations, according to the gazette notification.

In the notification, the law ministry directed the new judges to join their offices on April 19.

Earlier on March 1, a total of 166 assistant judges, who had qualified in the 10th BJS examinations, joined their offices upon the SC’s approval.

The government has initiated the process of recruiting new judges in a bid to reduce existing backlog of cases as 27.5 lakh lawsuits remain pending with the lower courts across the country, according to law ministry sources.

The Bangladesh Judicial Service Commission had selected the 32 candidates through examinations and recommended for appointing them as lower court judges in March last year.

109 addl district judges promoted

The government has promoted 109 additional district judges to the posts of district judges.

The law ministry today issued two separate gazette notifications to this effect.

The promotions were made under approval from the Supreme Court, according to the notifications.