Won’t tolerate any graft

Newly appointed Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique yesterday issued a stern warning against corruption and irregularities.

"Corruption is a cancer. I will take action against all sorts of graft and irregularities. I will not compromise on it," he said at a felicitation programme accorded to him by Attorney General AM Amin Uddin and the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) at the chief justice's courtroom in the Supreme Court.

The CJ promised to identify and eradicate every problem that can obstruct dispensation of justice. "I want to express my desire to all involved in the judicial functions that we will not tolerate any ills. I hope I will get all by my side to remove opacity, irregularities, sluggishness and incompetence from all sections of the Supreme Court," he said.

He also said he would constitute a monitoring cell, headed by High Court judges, for each of the country's eight divisions to reduce backlog of cases, bring transparency and ensure speedy trial in all subordinate courts.

"I will receive reports from the cells every month. Old cases will be disposed of with utmost priority and the entire thing will be supervised and monitored," he added.

SCBA Secretary Md Ruhul Quddus Kazal told the function that various corruption and irregularities were taking place at the judicial administration.

Besides, he said, lawyers have to spend extra money at every step from filing cases through submission of affidavits to placing them before courts to obtaining copies of court orders.

There have been frequent instances when accused persons were sent to jail even after they were granted bail by the High Court because court orders did not reach the lower courts concerned in time, the SCBA secretary said, requesting the CJ to take steps in this regard.