The shortage of judges in the Appellate and High Court Divisions of the Supreme Court has been compounded with deaths and retirements in the last couple of months. Coupled with the apparent absence of recruitment initiatives, this has further aggravated the backlog of cases.

The Appellate Division now has eight judges, including the chief justice. Justice Mohammad Bazlur Rahman passed away on January 1 and Justice Md Nizamul Huq retired in April. Another judge is set to retire by this year. 

There are 86 judges in the HC, three of whom are hearing war crimes cases in the International Crimes Tribunal. Justice JN Deb Choudhury died on December 15, Justice Shamim Hasnain retired in April and three judges are set to retire by this year.

Law Minister Anisul Huq told The Daily Star yesterday that some judges would be appointed to the HC once it reopens on July 2 after the ongoing annual vacation.

The eight Appellate Division judges are dealing with over 13,600 cases while the 86 in the HC over 4.31 lakh. In lower courts, there are only 1,268 judges who are hearing over 27 lakh cases.

"There's one judge for every 10,000 people in the USA and for 67,000 in India. But in Bangladesh, we have only one judge for more than 1 lakh people," observed Law Commission Chairman Justice ABM Khairul Haque earlier.

The last time the Appellate Division saw new judges was on February 8 last year when Justice Mirza Hussain Haider, Justice Md Nizamul Huq and Justice Mohammad Bazlur Rahman were sworn in.

The total had reached 11 on July 9, 2009 when the president brought in four new judges for the disposal of some important cases, including that over the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution

In the HC, services of eight out of nine judges were regularised by President Abdul Hamid in February this year, two years past their joining as additional judges. One Farid Ahmed Shibli was left out.

The highest number of judges here was 100, recorded in June 2012 following the appointment of six new additional judges.

An SC source said in the last 10 months, Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha has twice asked the government to appoint at least 10 judges to the HC.

With at least 387 of 1,655 approved posts of lower court judges vacant, he had asked for doubling the total there.

“I advised the government to appoint eight additional judges to the High Court in August 2016 after a long discussion with the law minister," he told the National Judicial Conference 2016 in the capital's Bangabandhu International Conference Centre on December 24.

"On mutual consent, a recommendation was sent to the government for appointing the judges, but the process was yet to see the light of day in four months,” he said.

With four judges ill at that time, he said to have faced difficulties in constituting HC benches and apprehended more following the retirements.

He said it was impossible for the lower court judges to dispose of the cases, as new ones were being filed every day.

"For this relevant reason, appointments should be made quickly in the vacant posts of lower court judges. Recruitment of lower court judges is delayed as the law ministry does not give requisition to that end on time," he said.