CJ warns against negligence, graft

Justice Muzammel Hossain

Expressing disappointment with a section of district judges not maintaining their office hours, and affecting the judicial system with their personal conflicts, Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain yesterday urged them to do their jobs properly.
He warned that if corruption allegations against judges and employees are proved, stern action will be taken against them.
The chief justice asked the district judges to take every corruption allegation against their subordinate judges and court staff with utmost importance and notify higher authorities.
He came up with the directives in his annual speech before the district judges and the judicial officials of the rank of a district judge at the Judges' Lounge of the Supreme Court yesterday afternoon.
More than 180 district judges and judicial officials from across the country, out of the 186, attended the programme, Supreme Court Registrar AKM Shamsul Islam told The Daily Star.
Justice Muzammel Hossain said, “It hurts me to learn that some district judges and chief judicial magistrates are becoming involved in undesirable conflicts for personal reasons. This is adversely affecting the overall judicial system in the district level.
“My expectation is that the district judges, as senior and responsible officials, would bring changes to the situation with their wisdom and good conscience.”
The chief justice said the judges have to discard the culture of wasting time and spend their entire office time on judicial work so that the backlog of cases could be eased.
“I have heard that many district judges do not perform their duties in court after lunch breaks. This is not acceptable. The cause list must be made in a certain a way that sufficient cases are enrolled there for hearing, so that the court remains operational throughout the court hours,” he said.
He said some district judges and their subordinate judges live in Dhaka with their families. “Among them, some judges leave for Dhaka around noon on Thursdays and return to their offices on Sundays.”
Justice Muzammel said some district judges use government cars to go out of their districts without permission from the authorities. Some even use other cars of the courts instead of the one given to them,” he said.
“The cars of some district judges, who are posted outside Dhaka, are often seen in the capital. These things are not acceptable. I expect that all judges would arrive at the court on time and conduct their duties throughout the court hours; and they would help other judges be as punctual and disciplined,” he said.
The chief justice directed the district judges to bolster their anti-corruption activities. He said a lot has been said about corruption in the lower judicial system and many speculative surveys have been conducted in this regard. “Newspapers have published news reports and articles. I accept any information regarding corruption of the judiciary with the utmost importance, because there is no room for corruption in the judiciary. My stance against corruption is clear and firm. Any indifference to or tolerance of corruption would not be allowed,” he said.
He said corruption makes way for injustice; and injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
“I would never take into account any false or harassment-intended complaints against any judge. However, I will consider all logical complaints regarding corruption and an appropriate judge would investigate the allegation,” he said.
Justice Muzammel said a district judge's delay in issuing an Annual Confidential Report (ACR) may cause delays in the posting or promotion of the judicial official concerned, which is not desirable. “I hope that all of you would record previous year's ACRs by February 15 and send them to the High Court,” he said.
He said a judge should be a student of law, disciplined, punctual in the court, honest, respecting humane qualities, and an ideal human being with good-natured behaviour towards other human beings. “Are these expectations of the people illogical? Of course, not! This is not just an expectation of the people of Bangladesh, people of every country expect their judges to have these qualities,” he said.
The chief justice said, “We have to be more sincere in fulfilling these just and logical expectations of the people. We have to remember that the faith of the people is the source of hope for an independent judicial system.”
“To earn this faith of the people, the judges need to have high moral values and awareness of the ever-developing and changing laws, technological developments and social values. These can be achieved only with regular studies and lawful, punctual conduct of court activities,” he said.
The chief justice termed the huge backlog of cases and procrastination in disposal of cases a big obstacle to delivering justice to the people.
“We are carrying a backlog of some 19 lakh cases in our courts. This pile of cases is slowing down the judicial system and increasing the cost of conducting cases,” he said.
As a result, people feel discouraged to bring their conflicts to the court, and are encouraged to use extra-judicial methods and muscle power to get favourable solutions, he said, adding that this, in turn, reduces people's faith in the rule of law and increases impatience and conflict in society.
Journalists were not allowed in yesterday's meeting but Supreme Court Registrar AKM Shamsul Islam provided newspersons with the printed speech of the chief justice.