Thanks to a two-decade-old resolution of Chittagong District Bar Association (CDBA), Chittagong is the only district in the country where courts are kept shut on hartal days.
The suspension of open court hearings on hartal days for fear of security not only brought chaos in the judicial process but has also been condemned by the lawyers themselves.
There are now moves afoot to “change” this practice because they say that this “absurd” resolution is not applicable in the present context.
On hartal days this week, court activities were carried out as normal throughout the country and only in Dhaka Sessions Judge's Court testimonies of eleven witnesses were recorded.
Public Prosecutor (PP) Kamaluddin Ahmed of Metropolitan Sessions Court in Chittagong recently told The Daily Star that the resolution places the litigant public under enormous sufferings.
The judicial process gets greatly hampered and the backlog of cases becomes worse, he said, adding that this “unusual resolution” needs to be changed to ensure that the litigant public's cases were resolved “at the earliest”.
In the first week of March, judicial works of 1,103 cases in eight Metropolitan Magistrates Courts in Chittagong were postponed, said court sources.
Moreover, charges could not be framed in 204 cases, testimonies of witnesses in 385 cases could not be recorded and witnesses could not be interrogated.
On average, judicial activities of around 400 cases are completed every day in the Chittagong courts, said the sources.
Chittagong's lawyers want the situation to be reversed as, apart from the judicial work being hampered, they are also being deprived of their professional earnings on these days.
Stating that serious thought should be given to the issue, Advocate Swabhu Prasad Biswas, a senior lawyer, said the authorities should also ensure the security of judges, court staff, lawyers and the litigant public.
Advocate Mili Chowdhury stated her firm belief to The Daily Star recently that the resolution needs to be rescinded without delay as it was not applicable in “this day and age”.
If the judicial process can be carried out with the presence of all the parties concerned, then the lawyers should also take part, she said.
However, Abdus Sattar, a former PP, said the resolution was adopted after due consultation and discussion among the lawyers.
He opined that open court hearings should be suspended on hartal days so that no untoward incidents take place in the court premises.
Salehuddin Haider, a senior lawyer of Chittagong Bar, however, lamented that the legal fraternity, like all other professions in the country, was also politically divided.
He thinks that a “unified approach” was absolutely necessary to reach a “consensus” on the issue.
Agreeing that the resolution should be rescinded, CDBA President Advocate Chandan Das told The Daily Star that if the members call for a “requisition meeting”, a decision in this regard could be taken.
Meanwhile, repeated hartals proved to be a hindrance in conducting many important cases like those of the sensational 10-truck arms haul.
PP Kamaluddin Ahmed said hearing of the two cases had to be postponed on five occasions since the beginning of this month.
Dissatisfied with the uncertainty shrouding the cases because of the hartals, he said the cases had now assumed “national and international importance” and the public would like to see a quick disposal.