Govt plans to make Alternative Dispute Resolution mandatory

The government is actively considering introducing Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) as mandatory trial mode both in civil and criminal courts to remove the logjam of cases to mitigate the suffering of justice seekers.
"It needs amendment to the century-old Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) for implementation of the new justice mechanism, which has already proved effective in many countries," said Law Minister Shafique Ahmed.
In an exclusive interview with UNB on completion of one year of the Awami League-led grand alliance government, the law minister said that the ADR has now been functioning at the Artha Rin Adalat as it was incorporated into the financial loan court law enacted in 2003.
"We now want to introduce ADR in the criminal courts across the country to speedily resolve the compoundable offences punishable under the sections of the Penal Code to get rid of huge backlog of cases," he said.
The compoundable offences include defamation, uttering words intended to hurt the religious feelings of any person, wrongfully restraining or confining any person, wrongful confinement to extort confession or force restoration of property, assault or use of criminal force, unlawful compulsory labour, criminal trespass and house trespass.
Criminal breach of trust, criminal breach of contract of service, adultery, insult intended to provoke a breach of peace, rioting armed with deadly weapons, act endangering human life or the personal safety of others, theft in dwelling house, theft by clerk or servant of property in possession of master, dishonest misappropriation of property, cheating, using a false trade or property mark, marrying again during lifetime of a husband or wife and eve teasing are also among the offences.
Asked about the law ministry's success in the year that has gone by, the minister said that the government established the rule of law in the country securing the final judgment of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on the long-stalled Bangabandhu murder case by increasing the number of apex court judges.
Mentioning another remarkable achievement, he said the government constitutionally implemented the long-desired task of separating the judiciary from the executive by amending the law through enacting 'The Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act 2009' through parliament.
"The subordinate courts are now functioning under the full control of the Supreme Court -- the government has nothing to interfere with it," the minister added.
About the initiatives taken by the government regarding speedy disposal of cases, he said that over 200 newly recruited assistant judges/judicial magistrates, selected through the viva voce and written test under the Bangladesh Judicial Service Commission, are awaiting postings at the lower courts.
According to records, about 750,000 cases are pending with the courts of judicial magistracy.
Sources in the apex court said about 500,000 cases, both civil and criminal, are pending with the Appellate Division for disposal, while at least 300,000 cases of similar nature, including writ petitions, are pending with the High Court division.
The law minister said, "After returning to power, the government enacted 66 laws through the parliament making effective the constitutional institutions and consolidating democracy and the rule of law."
About the much-talked-about trial of the war criminals, he said, "To accomplish some preparatory tasks, we've already amended the specific law (The International Crimes Tribunal (Amendment) Act, allocated Tk 10 crore for the purpose and finally selected the Old High Court building as the venue of the trial."
He said the Old High Court building needs renovation to create a trial-friendly environment.
The process of trial would begin after the renovation work which might take a couple of months to complete, he added.