Lack of necessary coordination and cooperation among the relevant agencies is hindering the delivery of justice efficiently, that leads to a substantial backlog of cases, law minister Anisul Huq said on Tuesday.
The number of cases pending with the country's lower court and High Court now stands at around 3.3 million, he mentioned.
Anisul Huq was speaking at the launching ceremony of the 'National Justice Coordination Committee' (NJCC) at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in the capital.
The NJCC aims to help efficient disposal of cases, identify gaps which create complexities, and foster better and stronger collaboration among justice sector stakeholders.
Other objectives of the NJCC include resolving problems related to communications, help to hold agencies concerned accountable for the execution of judgments and help to enhance coordination with all other agencies for witness prosecution.
Registrar of the Supreme Court Appellate Division, Md Zakir Hossain, Additional IGP (Admin) of police Md Mokhlesur Rahman, IG (Prisons) Syed Iftekhar Uddin and Country Director of UNDP, Bangladesh Sudipto Mukerjee , among others, spoke on the occasion.
In his speech, the law minister urged the lower court judges to encourage the justice-seekers to the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) system related to easily solvable cases which are not murder cases.
He said stakeholders like investigation officers, lawyers , the courts, court officials and physicians are involved in the trial proceedings of cases, so effective coordination and cooperation among them are inevitable for their speedy disposal.
Mr Sudipto in his welcome speech termed the committee as historical, saying "We are working with the government to ensure the access to justice for poverty eradication and human development, addressing all inequalities. Without ensuring that, we can't achieve the Sustainable Development Goals."
Mr Zakir Hossain said the role of the committee is to lead the justice sector's strategic reform process based on inputs and analysis from the District Justice Coordination Committees and other key stakeholders.
The United Nations Development Programme is assisting the NJCC to this end.
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