The post of district judge is vacant in eight districts
There has been no District and Sessions Judge in Narail since early March this year. The last District and Sessions Judge here was Sharmin Nigar. He was recently posted as Additional Secretary in the defunct Supreme Court Secretariat. After abolishing the Supreme Court Secretariat, he has now been attached to the Law and Justice Department of the Ministry of Law as an attached officer (District and Sessions Judge).
Not only Narail, eight districts of the country currently do not have district and session judges. Law Ministry sources said that apart from Narail, the other districts are Chittagong, Sylhet, Comilla, Sunamganj, Nilphamari, Panchagarh and Kishoreganj. Apart from this, the post of Metro Session Judge is vacant in Sylhet.
The Narail District Lawyers Association held a human chain last Wednesday for various demands, including the quick appointment of judges who have been vacant for a long time, including the District Judge. Lawyers say that the posts of judges are vacant in various important courts including district and session judges. As a result, cases are getting bogged down and people are not getting the desired justice.
PP Shah Kamal Sarkar of Kishoreganj said that the post of district and session judge of Kishoreganj is vacant since last February. Since then the Additional District and Sessions Judge has been performing routine duties. Apart from this, 19 more posts of District and Sessions Judges are vacant.
The concerned persons say that due to lack of regular district judge, there is complication in judicial proceedings. People are suffering because of it.
On the other hand, 15 officers (judges) of the abolished Supreme Court Secretariat in consultation with the Supreme Court have been attached to the Law and Justice Department on May 19 for further posting. Among them are nine District and Sessions Judges, two Additional District and Sessions Judges, three Joint District and Sessions Judges and one officer of the rank of Senior Civil Judge. Their application form has been accepted from May 10. Incidentally, the Supreme Court Secretariat (Abolition) Bill was passed in the Parliament on April 9. Based on this, the Supreme Court Secretariat (Amendment) Ordinance was repealed.
However, those officers of the attached judicial department have not been posted anywhere, that is, they have not been given responsibility. Among these officials is Sheikh Ashfakur Rahman, senior secretary of the defunct Supreme Court Secretariat. Others include four additional secretaries, four joint secretaries, three deputy secretaries and three senior assistant secretaries. They are all judicial officers.
Several officials of the Ministry of Law told Prothom Alo that the vacancy of the district judge post and the subsequent issues mainly happened around the Supreme Court Secretariat. Recruitment for these posts is now under process.
