Case backlog is a long-standing problem in the judiciary of the country. Despite various initiatives taken at different times to solve this problem, the case backlog has gone on bulging.
As the trial of the cases is pending for a long time, both the time and money of the litigants are being wasted. There is also a fear that justice might be denied due to lengthy proceedings of the cases. And the judges and others concerned have to face a huge pressure of additional cases.
According to a statistics of the Supreme Court, as of March 31, 2023, more than 4.2 million cases were pending with the lower and higher judiciary of the country.
Among the cases, 0.15 million are under investigation. A total of 0.53 million cases were pending with both the divisions (Appellate and High Court) of the Supreme Court and 3.67 million cases were pending with the trial courts across the country.
A total of 21,184 cases had been pending with the Appellate Division including 13,442 civil, 7,594 criminal and 148 contempt of court cases till March 31 this year. The High Court division has a total of 0.51 million pending cases including 91,638 civil, 0.3 million criminal and 0.12 million writ and other cases.
Subordinate courts across the country have 1.58 million civil, 2.08 million criminal pending cases. Among the cases, 0.78 million have been pending for more than five years.
According to the SC public relations office, now only six judges are conducting the cases in the Appellate Divisions where a total of 21,184 cases were pending.
Apart from this, a total 88 judges are performing in the High Court Division of the Supreme Court. They are dealing with 0.51 million pending cases. On average, one HC judge has to see more than 5,876 cases.
Immediate past Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique took some effective initiatives to reduce the case backlog. Therefore, the disposal rate of cases has increased in recent years.
Justice Hasan Foez formed eight monitoring cells, headed by eight judges of the High Court division, to supervise the cases of eight divisions of the country and also formed special benches for settling old cases in the High Court.
Meanwhile, the present Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan has taken the case backlog as a challenge since the day of his assumption of the office. He also announced to maintain the continuity of the effective steps taken by his predecessors.
Senior Supreme Court lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan said: "Recruiting qualified and efficient judges might be a big step for reducing case backlog in the courts. The trial courts should complete the proceedings in time and they should not grant time petitions repeatedly during the trial procedures."
He added: "In our country the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) system has failed in reducing case backlog. We didn't get the expected result even after the amendment of the law regarding the ADR system."
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