Assist poor litigants

Law minister urges judges, lawyers

1 October 2011, 18:00 PM

Staff Correspondent

Law Minister Shafique Ahmed yesterday urged judges and lawyers to become sincere in order to ensure legal rights of poor litigants. The present government took initiatives to strengthen and speed up the legal aid programme to provide legal assistance to poor and insolvent litigants at the government's cost, he said. He was speaking as the chief guest at a meeting on “Legal Aid Programme at Government Cost and Civil Procedure Code (Amendment) Bill, 2011” organised by the ministry in the city's Ruposhi Bangla Hotel. Shafique said judges and lawyers must be careful to ensure that poor people are not deprived of the government's legal assistance. State Minister for Law Qamrul Islam, at the programme, said if the judges and lawyers work sincerely with a mindset to serve the poor, the government's legal assistance programme will be a success. Sahidul Islam, secretary to the ministry legal and justice division; Mohammad Shahidul Haque, secretary to the ministry legislative and parliamentary affairs division; officials concerned, district and sessions judges from 22 districts and secretaries from different bars attended.