New judges to be appointed: Law minister

Law Minister Anisul Huq today said new judges will be appointed to the High Court Division of the Supreme Court to reduce the shortage of judges and backlog of its pending cases.

He told The Daily Star after a meeting with Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah, who is now performing functions of the chief justice, at his SC office this afternoon.

The law minister, however, did not mention when and how many judges will be appointed to the High Court Division to make the efforts a success.

Replying to a question, the law minister said he does not know when new judges will be appointed to the Appellate Division of the SC, although this division is also facing shortage of judges.

Usually, the Appellate Division judges are appointed through promotion of the HC judges.

The courts across the country including the Appellate Division and HC Divisions have been facing acute shortage of judges causing a huge backlog of pending cases, resulting severe sufferings to the justice seekers.

The number of Appellate Division judges has come down to six from 11 in 2009 after the retirement of Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana, the first-ever female judge of the apex court, on July 7 this year.

But, only five judges of the Appellate Division are now dealing with the judicial function, as Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, who is also a judge of the apex court, is now staying in Australia on a month leave on health ground. He is supposed to stay in Australia till November 10. 

The High Court Division has also been facing a similar shortage of judges following retirement and death of some judges in last several months.

The number of HC judge now stands at 83, which was 100 in June 2012.

Replying to a question, the law minister said the government will formulate the disciplinary rules for the lower court judges immediately.

The SC has given time to the government for 25 times so far to issue a gazette notification on the disciplinary rules for lower court judges.