Serve one poor person for free every year

Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha yesterday urged every lawyer to conduct a case free in a year to ensure justice for poor people and to reduce the huge backlog of pending cases.

Many death row convicts, who are languishing in condemn cells, have no ability to engage lawyers, he said.

Sinha was addressing as chief guest the inaugural ceremony of "the Supreme Court Legal Aid Office" in the SC auditorium.

The government has introduced the legal aid service programme to provide the poor litigants with legal assistance, he said.

Sinha expressed hope that the Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee (SCLAC) will help the insolvent accused.

The chief justice said more than 31 lakh cases are now pending with courts across the country and around 60 percent of them are in connection with dispute over land and property.

SC Registrar General Syed Aminul Islam told The Daily Star that SCLAC has 73 panel lawyers to give legal aid to the poor litigants at the SC.

The panel lawyers are paid by the government, he said, adding that the litigants are not to pay them money.

Aminul, also a former director of National Legal Aid Services Organisation, said a person, who earns below Tk 1 lakh at district level a year, is entitled to get free legal assistance of the government.

A justice seeker, whose annual income is below Tk 1.5 lakh per year, can get such assistance at the SC, he added.

Around 1.1 lakh poor people got free legal aid till this February since 2009, Aminul said.