ADR vital to save judiciary: Shafique
Law Minister Shafique Ahmed yesterday said the judiciary would collapse in future if alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is not introduced.
There is no alternative to ADR -- a system used to resolve disputes outside the court through mediators and arbitrators -- in disposing of cases to save the judiciary, the minister said.
Shafique said once ADR is introduced, many cases will end outside the court on compromise between the plaintiff and defendant through their lawyers, reducing the overcrowd of under-trial prisoners.
The minister was speaking as the chief at a seminar on ''Challenges to the implementation of court-sponsored ADR in Bangladesh'', organised by Bangladesh Law Commission at the BIAM auditorium in the city.
Law Commission Chairman Justice MA Rashid presided over the function.
Shafique said the number of judges in the country is very low in proportion of its population, which cause lakhs of cases to remain pending and serious sufferings to the litigants.
According to Shafique, around 70 per cent of the country's prisoners are under trial since the cases against them are not being disposed of in reasonable time.
He said the government will amend the relevant laws as per recommendations of the law commission so that ADR can be made mandatory for quick disposal of both civil and criminal cases.
Eminent jurist Dr Kamal Hossain said people cannot use the lawyers as baton wielding force to obtain orders from courts in their favour.
A section of people obtain court orders in their favour by submitting false affidavits and documents through the lawyers on a regular basis, which can cause damages to the judiciary, added Dr Kamal.
According to him, ADR has to be used in a way so that people get justice within a very short time and at a minimum cost.
The High Court judges -- Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice Nuruzzaman Nani -- and Bangladesh Bar Council Vice-chairman Abdul Baset Majumder, and Law Commission members Prof Shah Alam and Sunil Chandra Paul spoke at the seminar.
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