An efficient justice system can boost business growth

An effective and efficient justice system is essential for sustained economic growth anywhere in the world. In a well-functioning justice system, decisions are made within a reasonable time frame, which contributes to a country's economic growth. In Bangladesh, more than 30 lakh cases are currently pending with higher and lower courts across the country. "Justice delayed is justice denied"—this is a legal maxim. It means that if legal redress or equitable relief to an injured party is available, but is not delivered in time, it is the same as providing no remedy at all. As the late Martin Luther King, Jr rightly said, "Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice, and when they fail in this purpose, they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress." There is another legal maxim: "Justice hurried is justice buried." If there is any hurry in the proceedings, there is a high probability that efficient justice won't be delivered.

Benjamin Franklin, one of the US' founding fathers, said, "It is better (that) 100 guilty persons should escape, than that one innocent person should suffer." This principle has been a staple for legal thinking for centuries. The efficiency of a judicial system is important for an emerging economy in order to create a good business climate, and is essential for attracting foreign direct investments, ensuring smooth collection of tax revenues, timely mitigation of tax and custom disputes, and resettlement of cases related to loans and credit—which ultimately support economic growth. Say, if we consider one plaintiff, one accused, one witness, one prosecutor, and one investigation officer being involved in one single case, then 30 lakh cases have 1.5 crore people engaged with the case-related dealings. As the cases are still pending, the economy is losing out on support and contribution from the income-generating economic activities of these people in their fullest capacities.

The number of judges per 100,000 people in developing countries differs from country to country. In 2020, the number of judges per 100,000 people in India was over 1.4. India's judge-population ratio has improved over the last few years. Considering this ratio, Bangladesh, with its 16 crore population, should have at least 1,600 judges actively serving at courts across the country.

In one of the World Bank's World Development Reports published several years ago, the importance of well-functioning courts to strengthen economies and their investment climates—and ultimately reducing poverty and boosting business growth—was highly acknowledged by the bank's researchers. Indicators of court performance were a part of the World Bank Group's country-level investment climate assessments and Ease of Doing Business reports up to 2020. But this year, the World Bank stopped the assessment of the performance for the Ease of Doing Business report. Now it is time for each country to assess its own performance to find the state of the administration of justice relating to business climates in order to boost their economies. This is how important it is: for instance, countries seeking accession to the European Union (EU) or to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) need to demonstrate their satisfactory and time-bound performance of legal proceedings in association with other indicators.

When it comes to commercial, corporate and financial cases, enforcing contracts and settling disputes are critical parts of smooth business operations and sustained economic growth. Economies with efficient judiciary—in which courts can effectively and timely enforce contractual obligations of business entities—have better developed credit markets as well as people's trust, and have domestic and international financiers for business as well. Timely judicial verdicts can assist rapid growth of small firms and improve the business climate, foster innovation for small businesses, attract foreign direct investments, and secure strong tax revenue collection that ensures economic and business growth.

To ensure an efficient trial system, the time schedule for every event of a court proceeding—such as hearing, framing charges, recording depositions of witnesses, arguments, and delivering judgment—needs to be carefully tracked. The time limit for adjournment of each event should be defined. The number of times a time petition may be granted should be articulated clearly. According to Section 339C of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a magistrate needs to conclude the trial of a case within 180 days from the date the case is accepted for trial. Meanwhile, sessions judges, additional sessions judges or assistant sessions judges need to conclude the trial of a case within 360 days from the date the case is received for trial.

The staggering backlog of pending criminal cases at the country's courts is likely causing frustration and resentment, not to mention leading to the waning of people's faith in the criminal justice system, according to some lawyers. The court proceedings should be conducted within a reasonable time frame. The lawyers also say that adequate opportunity should be given to the parties of a case to put forth their contentions and produce evidence. The court ensures that the laws have been strictly adhered to, so that frequent adjournments may be avoided, but a recurrent submission of time petitions by the parties creates delay and makes it difficult to maintain the time limit. The courts alone cannot follow the time limit for trials if the parties do not cooperate. Meanwhile, some say the delay in trial proceedings are a result of a lack of adequate number of judges and public prosecutors. Delay in the serving of summons, the parties seeking frequent and long adjournments, and recurring time petition by advocates are some other reasons why the disposal of a case takes so long.

According to some legal experts, a permanent and well-equipped prosecution office would help develop the professionalism and quality of criminal justice in the long run. The development of infrastructure of the criminal courts, with innovative exploration of modern digital technology, is indispensable for the proper administration of criminal justice in Bangladesh.

If we consider the legal maxim of "justice delayed is justice denied," then a good number of judges needs to be recruited in the country as soon as possible, and a big investment in modernising the digital platform for judiciary is essential to avoiding inordinate delays. Furthermore, laws need to be amended to allow recording to deposition through videoconference or mobile apps such as WhatsApp on smartphones instead of issuing conventional summons. Accelerating economic development of the country depends not only on infrastructural development, but also on the overall development of the administration of justice, including the modernisation of the digital platform of judiciary, following the best practices of the courts systems in developed countries.

Dr Md Shamsul Arefin is former senior secretary of the government and adjunct faculty at the Bangladesh Institute of Governance and Management (BIGM).