Village Courts
Govt mulls judicial assistants for UPs
Says prime minister
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina addresses an audience of chairmen and secretaries of 350 Union Parishads (UPs) during the inaugural session of a two-day Village Court Conference at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital yesterday. photo: PMO
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said the government is considering appointing a judicial assistant to each union parishad (UP) across the country to help public representatives make village courts operational. The village court system, which will be expanded to all unions, will be an ideal justice delivery model for developing countries. There might be some loopholes initially but the process will be gradually standardised, she said. Hasina was addressing the inaugural session of a two-day “Village Court Conference” under “Activating Village Courts in Bangladesh Project” at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital. Rangpur Pourasabha will be very shortly upgraded to a city corporation, she declared. Chairmen and secretaries of 350 UPs under the project are taking part in the conference to review the success of the Village Court Law and identify its loopholes for improvement. Local Government Division, with financial assistance from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and European Union (EU), initiated the project in 350 unions in 2009. The project preliminarily aimed at executing the village court law, enacted to give the traditional local dispute resolving system a formal and legal structure. Hasina said the government took steps to introduce village courts in over 4,000 UPs outside the project area and urged donors to provide assistance in this regard. She reminded that village courts are a unique opportunity for elected representatives to deliver justice and service to people, being authoritative on one hand while undertaking a huge responsibility on the other. “Nothing unjustified should be imposed, under an external influence, on people who seek justice. Religious superstition and fanaticism should also have no role while justice is being discharged,” she said. There should also be provisions for punishment against false complaints. Disputes should be resolved through understanding and motivation, she added. Hasina said local representatives can earn the confidence and love of the people using the authority bestowed upon them by the village court law. Peaceful resolution of disputes would also help maintain peace in society and fraternity among people, she noted. Stating that the government is pledge-bound to undertake any activity required for the people's welfare, Hasina hoped that village courts will pave the way towards ensuring justice for the poor and disadvantaged rural people. She reiterated that Dhaka City Corporation was divided into Dhaka North and Dhaka South city corporations to improve service delivery and for the decentralisation of the administration. Narayanganj and Comilla municipalities were upgraded to city corporations and Rangpur would be upgraded to a city corporation very shortly, she said. The government enacted and amended the upazila parishad laws and formulated the regulations to strengthen the upazila parishad, she said. It also undertook massive development programmes for the municipalities. For instance, pourasabha mayors and UP chairmen are being trained at home and abroad, she said. A master plan is being prepared for municipalities in 23 districts headquarters and 223 upazila headquarters, said Hasina. She said the union councils are implementing a number of projects aided by UNDP, EU, World Bank and Unicef. The largest WB financed project, “Local Governance Support Project (LGSP)”, was executed during 2006-2011 when Tk 1,034 crore was directly channelled to the local government's lowest tier as the basic grant, she said. Moreover, the government took up LGSP-2, which will cost Tk 3,912 crore and be operational till 2016, she said. LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Syed Ashraful Islam and State Minister Jahangir Kabir Nanak, UNDP Resident Representative Neal Walker and EU Delegation Charge d'Affaires Milko Van Gool attended as special guests. Local Government Division Secretary Abul Alam M Shahid Khan was in the chair while the project Director KM Mozammel Haque spoke on the occasion.
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