55 posts of lower court judges lie vacant
A total of 55 posts of the lower court judges have been lying vacant for over one year, affecting the future of numerous people seeking justice across the country.
Over 18 lakh cases are pending with lower courts across the country while 2.82 lakh with the High Court Division of the Supreme Court, said sources in the SC and Ministry of Law.
Of the vacant posts, one is of district judge, one is of joint district judge and the remaining 53 are of additional district judge, Mahbubar Rahman Sarkar, senior assistant secretary to the ministry, told The Daily Star.
He said the vacant posts would be filled up within this month as judges from lower tiers have already been promoted as per approval from the SC and only their postings were awaiting.
State Minister for Law Qamrul Islam told The Daily Star that the government would take steps to fill up all the vacant posts of lower court judges within this year.
The government is giving serious consideration to the issue so that litigants did not face any trouble in getting justice, he said.
A total of 1,598 judges are now discharging judicial functions in the lower courts and recruitment of 125 new assistant judges is now under process.
An official concerned said the vacant posts of judges could not be filled up all at a time as appointments of the judicial officials were made only at the entry level, meaning the post of assistant judge.
These judges are promoted in the sequence of senior assistant judge, joint district judge, additional district judge and finally district judge in order to fill up the vacancies, he said.
The lower court judges are appointed after the Judicial Service Commission selects suitable candidates by holding different tests and examinations, he said, adding that a total of 726 judges were appointed through the commission so far.
The ministry in May requested the commission to select suitable persons from 125 candidates for appointment in 77 posts of assistant judges, he said.
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