CUMILLA, July 06: Lack of adequate number of judges has raised the number of backlog cases to 23,000 at various courts in the district.
Court sources said some 23,000 cases, both civil and criminal ones, have long been pending with different courts under 17 upazilas here due to inadequate number of judicial and sessions judges.
Chief Judicial Magistrate of Cumilla Shohel Rana said though the number of pending cases is increasing day by day, the posts of judicial officers remain vacant.
Cumilla Court Record Keeper Shafiqul Islam said there are only five judges in different trial courts in the district against a total of 11 posts of judicial officers. The posts of chief judicial magistrate of the district and additional judicial magistrate have remained vacant following the transfer of judges to other districts several years back.
Of the 23,000 pending cases, he said, 19,672 are civil lawsuits and the rest are criminal cases.
Litigants have to count an additional amount of money to pay their lawyers as the dates for the hearing on their cases are frequently deferred due to shortage of judges.
A lawyer said the number of judges in the courts is very few and far between compared to that of the cases as fresh appointments are hardly made to the posts left vacant by the outgoing judges.
"As a result, the litigants are facing hassles while seeking justice in the courts and their cases are getting complicated day by day since the judges cannot hold proceedings regularly and dispose of the cases in time", he also said. Shafiqul Islam said five judges, including a chief judicial magistrate and judicial magistrate are dealing with some 9,500 criminal cases.
So, regular holding of proceedings and disposing them of in time are not possible for them.
Besides, new cases are filed every day and they are getting piled up in courts as the dates of trial are deferred frequently due to the shortage of judges. The same is the case with civil suits.
According to him, the posts of senior assistant sessions judges have been lying vacant in courts of Laksham, Chandina, Brahmanpara, Adarshanagar and Sadar upazilas for a long time.
Ali Akbar, administrative officer of the District Judge's Court, said half a dozen of vacant posts of judicial officers will be filled up soon.
Advocate Anower Hossain, a renowned lawyer of Cumilla, said transfer of judges outside the district by the government and lack of initiative to fill up the vacancies are seriously hampering the judicial activities.
"Ultimately, it's the litigants who suffer most as they have to face the hassles."
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