Lower court judges to get more power on civil cases

The Cabinet approved on Monday a draft law to expedite disposal of civil cases in lower courts at district level.
The draft law titled 'Civil Courts (Amendment) Act 2015' has proposed to increase fiduciary jurisdiction of the lower court judges to dispose of civil cases.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting at Cabinet Division in Bangladesh Secretariat.
After the meeting cabinet secretary Muhammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told journalists that the draft law has proposed to expedite disposal of civil cases, as the civil cases with more monetary value could be disposed of in lower courts at district level.
He said the amendment proposed increasing jurisdiction of the assistant judges to deal with the civil cases including assets worth Tk 1.5 million (Tk 15 lakh) from Tk 0.2 million. For senior assistant judges the amount has been increased to Tk 2.5 million from Tk 0.4 million.
He said in the appellate courts, the amendment proposed that a district judge would deal with the civil cases worth Tk 50 million, which is now Tk 0.5 million.  
The council of ministers also gave final approval to the draft 'Bangladesh Coast Guard Act 2015', replacing the existing one, framed in 1994.
Meanwhile, the National Implementation Committee for Administrative Reforms (NICAR) on Monday endorsed Mymensingh as a new division.
The total number of administrative divisions in the country is now eight.
NICAR gave the approval in its meeting, held at Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
The cabinet secretary said Mymensingh, Jamalpur, Sherpur and Netrakona districts will be under the new division, keeping Tangail and Kishoreganj districts outside of it.
The committee also decided to declare Bhandaria in Pirojpur district as a new municipality, expand the area of Homna municipality in Comilla district, and set up a new police station dividing Muradnagar Police Station, also in Comilla.
The new police station, encompassing 189 square kilometres area of 10 unions with a total population of 240,775, will be known as Bangura Bazar Police Station.
talhabinhabib@yahoo.com