The High Court monitoring committee for subordinate courts in the Dhaka division expressed concern and dissatisfaction as 56 judges were sharing 28 courtrooms and working hours on a rotational basis in Dhaka courts.
The monitoring committee observed that the shortage of courtrooms was causing delays in the disposal of pending cases.
Justice JBM Hassan, who was assigned on April 27 to monitor subordinate courts in the Dhaka division, on Saturday inspected different courts on the Dhaka court premises and issued a series of directives aimed at improving judicial accountability and the justice delivery system.
During the inspection, he directed the Dhaka district and sessions judge, Dhaka metropolitan sessions judge, chief metropolitan magistrate, and other judicial magistrates to explore ways to end the practice of courtroom sharing.
He also asked them to increase the rate of case disposal, ensure the appearance of witnesses and improve the conditions of lockups at the courts.
Justice Hassan also visited several courtrooms being modernised with air-conditioning facilities under a pilot project covering 53 courtrooms -- from magistrate courts to district judge courts.
He appreciated the initiative and asked the authorities to modernise the lockups, which are yet to be tiled.
Judges present during the inspection described the visit as part of ensuring accountability of judges in delivering justice efficiently.
They observed that the courtroom-sharing problem could be resolved if the existing eight-storey Dhaka district and sessions judge’s building was vertically expanded to 10 storeys.
According to the court official, more than one lakh cases are currently pending with different courts under the Dhaka district and sessions judge’s court.
Assistant registrar (protocol) Mir Mashhur Ahmed provided secretarial support to Justice Hassan during the inspection.
Chief justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury on April 27 reconstituted monitoring committees for subordinate courts and assigned 13 judges to oversee courts in the country’s eight divisions.
Senior district and sessions judge Md Helal Uddin, Dhaka metropolitan sessions judge Md Sabbir Faiz, and additional metropolitan magistrate Md Zakir Hossain, among others, were present during the inspection.
Asked to comment, Dhaka metropolitan public prosecutor Md Omar Faruq Faruqui told New Age that many judges were sharing courtrooms on a rotational basis.
He said that one judge used a courtroom for four hours, while another judge used it for the remaining four hours.
He said that the monitoring committee had repeatedly noted the longstanding problems, but little progress was made in resolving them, causing sufferings to justice seekers and delays in the delivery of justice.
He urged the government to immediately build a high-rise building to accommodate more judges, courtrooms, and prosecution offices.
Regarding the non-appearance of witnesses, Faruqui said that the prosecution sent summonses and warrants to the office of the deputy commissioner for prosecution, which then forwarded them to the respective police stations for execution at the witnesses’ addresses.
He said that the summonses and warrants in many cases remained pending with police stations responsible for executing the court orders.
Against this backdrop, the prosecutor said, several courts in Dhaka had recently introduced recording of deposition from physicians as witnesses online in addressing the issue.
