Govt to defend mobile court judgments

The government will appoint assistant public prosecutors to additional district magistrate (ADM) courts to defend judgments of mobile courts, Law Minister Anisul Huq said yesterday.

“We have directed the public prosecutors to appoint assistant public prosecutors to ADM courts so that the verdicts of mobile courts can be defended,” he told The Daily Star.

The move was made as per a written proposal by deputy commissioners (DCs), also district magistrates.

The DC of Comilla at a meeting with the top law ministry officials suggested that the ministry should appoint government lawyers to ADM courts to make sure that the government can contest any appeal by convicts. Several DCs backed the proposal.

The meeting was held at the secretariat as part of the three-day DC Conference-2015, which ended yesterday.

Lawyers said any convict can file an appeal with the ADM court, challenging his conviction by a mobile court. Attorneys defend the convict during the hearing on the appeal, but there is none to defend the government. This enables many convicts to get acquittal on charges.  

Hailing the government's decision, an executive magistrate told this newspaper that it would help them protect the government's interest in a better way.

A mobile court can penalise an offender with up to two years in jail or fine him an unspecified amount.

Speaking at the meeting, some deputy commissioners said they forward some complaints of common people to the police, but the cops do not take those complaints into cognisance. As a result, people don't get service from the government.

The law minister assured the DCs of issuing an order to the authorities concerned to this end. He asked the officials to encourage people to resolve disputes through pursuing the alternative dispute resolution system to keep cases out of courts, said meeting sources.  

Talking to newsmen after the conclusion of the conference, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the DCs put forward 565 proposals for the government, including 31 priority suggestions for the prime minister.

“We've asked the DCs to work as per directives of the prime minister,” he mentioned, adding that the Cabinet Division would regularly monitor whether the PM's directives were implemented or not.

Inaugurating the conference, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday issued a set of 21 directives to the deputy commissioners. She asked the officials to come out of old bureaucratic mentality.

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION MINISTRY

Public Administration Minister Syed Ashraful Islam informed the DCs that the government wants to decentralise the administration. The DCs will have to play an important role to achieve the goal, he added.

The government should hire additional manpower for the local administrations, said DCs. They also proposed installing CCTVs at key government establishments to ensure security.  

CIVIL AVIATION MINISTRY

Some DCs demanded the government build hotels and motels in tourist destinations. They also wanted additional flights to several districts and introduction of an easy luggage handling system at airports to flourish tourism in the country.

Minister Rashed Khan Menon told reporters that he sought cooperation from the DCs to bring 10 lakh foreign tourists to Bangladesh in next three years.  

INFORMATION MINISTRY

The DCs proposed setting up community radio stations in the costal areas to alert fishermen about any possible natural disasters in the deep sea.

Information Minister Hasanul Huq Inu asked the officials to preserve the information and data about Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the symbols of Liberation War across the country to celebrate Bangabandhu's 100th birth anniversary and 50 years of the country's independence in 2020 and 2021. 

Terming mass media the fourth estate of the country, he said the DCs should be media-friendly.

The administration must ensure free flow of information and resist “information-terrorism” and yellow journalism, he added.

SHIPPING MINISTRY

Some DCs proposed that the ministry should bring all the vessels under a registration system and issue licences to master drivers to check river accidents and build a professional workforce for the sector. The officials also urged the ministry to dredge some rivers to save them.

Minister Shajahan Khan directed the DCs to protect rivers from grabbers, and demarcate the boundaries of all rivers across the country.

The government has a plan to procure 20 new dredgers by this year, he told reporters after the meeting.