Claiming only 10 to 15 percent lawsuit in Bangladesh is settled through ‘alternative dispute resolution’ (ADR), Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain has called for taking up ADR to tackle the backlog of cases jamming the courts.
“In the countries like USA, UK, Canada, and Australian, 85 to 90 percent lawsuit is settled through ADR and the rest is disposed of by the court while the scenario is quite opposite in Bangladesh. Smooth implementation of the existing laws’ provisions on ADR is essential to reduce the number of cases,” he said on Saturday (Apr 27).
The chief justice was speaking at a programme in the Supreme Court auditorium in the city.
Supreme Court (SC) Reform Committee and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) jointly organised the programme to release a report on ‘Justice Audit Bangladesh’.
Citing judge's shortage causes case-jam, Hossain said, “In Bangladesh, the ratio of the judge to the justice seekers stands at 10 to 1 million while it is at 107 in the USA, 75 in Canada, 51 in the UK, 41 in Australia and 18 judges to 1 million people in neighbouring India.”
“Infrastructural development with proper case management is necessary to tackle case-jam and ensure constitutional rights to justice seekers,” said the chief justice before adding only fulfilling the judges’ shortage would not solve the crisis.
Hossain advised for “reducing the ration of case filing with the institutional judicial system and disposing of cases within the shortest possible time.”
He then called for using ADR to reduce the burden of case-jam on the court.
Speaking of the country’s prisons, Hossain said, “Jails are crowded by under-trial prisoners.
“Home ministry and prison authority with the financial assistance from GIZ are working to solve the crisis,” the chief justice added.