More shifts to clear cases

The Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs has recommended a ‘double shift’ or ‘evening shift’ in the higher and lower courts to tackle growing number of pending cases. The committee will work on a draft of a new law to introduce the extra shift in the higher court, the Committee’s Chairman Suranjit Sengupta told a press briefing at the Parliament media centre on Monday. The committee discussed the issue at a meeting on Sunday. Sengupta said a whopping 2.6 million cases were pending in both higher and lower courts. “The justice system needs to be restructured to ease the backlog. It is not possible to end the logjam with the existing number of judges,” said the ruling Awami League MP. He cited examples of India’s Chennai and West Bengal. “Courts run evening shift in Madras and West Bengal.” Sengupta said no law is required to introduce the system in the lower court, but a law is needed to introduce it in the higher court, according to bdnews24.com.