Bangladesh to recruit 478 judges for lower courts soon

The government has taken steps to recruit 478 new judges for lower courts in phases to address the massive backlog of pending cases.

The move comes in line with recommendations from the Supreme Court and Law Commission, said law ministry sources.

Besides, a process is underway to recruit 113 assistant judges and judicial magistrates who are known as lower court judges.

As part of hiring 478 judges, the ministry has recently asked Bangladesh Judicial Service Commission (BJSC) to select qualified candidates for 111 judges' posts through exams.

The ministries of law and public administration have been working on creating the rest of the 367 new posts of judges. Once the posts are created, the ministries will take necessary measures to fill those.    

Talking to The Daily Star, BJSC Secretary Paresh Chandra Sharma said the commission has already initiated the process of selecting competent candidates for the 111 posts.

The posts will be advertised this month. The commission will soon set the eligibility criteria for the prospective applicants and the last date for filing applications, he added.

RECRUITMENT OF 113

Sources at BJSC and law ministry said examiners have been evaluating the answer scripts of candidates who took written tests for 60 posts of judges. Successful applicants will have to face a viva test.

Once the viva test is over, the commission will send the list of successful aspirant judges to the law ministry, which would forward the list to the home ministry for police verification.

The president will appoint applicants as judges and the Supreme Court will execute the appointments by posting them to different districts.

Meanwhile, 53 candidates are now waiting to be recruited as judges after being selected by the BJSC in November last year.

Police verification of 49 applicants out of the 53 has already been completed. Once the police verification of the rest is done, the president will appoint all of them as judge, said law ministry sources. 

Speaking at a programme on January 18, Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha stressed the need for doubling the number of judges in lower courts.

There are now some 1,600 lower court judges in the country. Around 27 lakh cases have been pending with the courts for years.

The Law Commission in September last year had recommended recruiting 3,000 judges for lower courts for quick disposal of cases and easing the sufferings of justice seekers.

Around 400 posts of lower court judges are lying vacant now as many judges either retired or got promoted in recent years. Moreover, another 193 posts will fall vacant in a few months, according to sources.

The government has so far appointed 930 assistant judges and judicial magistrates through the BJSC since its formation in 2007.