Lower courts to get 60 judges soon

The government is going to recruit 60 new lower court judges with the aim of reducing the existing backlog of cases.

Also, 53 candidates selected by the Bangladesh Judicial Service Commission (BJSC) as assistant judges and judicial magistrates in November last year await appointment, said sources. The president will appoint the judges after police verification.

The law ministry had asked the commission to recruit the 60 judges to the same posts through relevant examinations. Preliminary tests and written examinations for the posts have already been held, commission sources said.

Supreme Court and law ministry sources said 399 posts of judges at different lower courts remain vacant after the judges either retired or got promoted in recent years.

Another 193 posts of lower court judges will fall vacant in few months, even though around 27 lakh cases are pending with lower courts across the country. The courts currently have around 1,500 judges.

Among the vacant posts, 263 are of senior assistant judges, 89 of joint district judges, 30 of additional district judges and 17 of district judges.     

The government has so far appointed 930 assistant judges and judicial magistrates through the BJSC after the body was reconstituted in 2007, sources said.

Law Secretary ASSM Zahirul Haque Dulal told The Daily Star that the new judges were appointed only at the entry level -- posts of assistant judge and judicial magistrate.

Posts of other judges are filled through promotions, and therefore, the vacant posts cannot be filled up at a time, he said, adding that the government was taking necessary steps for increasing the number of disposal of cases.