CJ hopes people will regain trust in judiciary

Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed on Saturday said the country’s judiciary has embarked on a new journey after the July mass uprising, and the people will regain their lost trust in the judiciary.

“The pro-activity of the interim government has made it possible to formulate an ordinance for the appointment of apex court judges in the shortest possible time,” he said while addressing a regional seminar at a hotel in Khulna.

“The Supreme Court and the interim government are working closely for the successful implementation of the roadmap for judicial reform. In particular, the law ministry has made significant progress in creating a separate secretariat for the judiciary.”

Organised jointly by the Supreme Court and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the seminar titled “Judicial Independence and Efficiency” was presided over by High Court Justice Mohammad Ali and was addressed by UNDP Resident Representative Stefan Liller, European Union Ambassador and Head of Delegation in Bangladesh Michael Miller, and Swedish Ambassador Nicolas Weeks, among others, read a Supreme Court press release.

Thanking the interim government for different initiatives for the betterment of the judiciary, the chief justice further said recently, with the sincere cooperation of the government, a significant number of posts of judges have been created at various levels, which will play an important role in resolving the backlog of cases in the near future. In addition, the initial work of establishing a specialised commercial court has already been completed, he added.

Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed also said two special committees are working to initiate the operation of the Supreme Court Research Institute in Cox’s Bazar soon.

The chief justice mentioned that various important issues have emerged from the seminars held at the divisional level of the country and that the work of preparing a strategic plan for the overall modernisation of the judiciary will soon be started by incorporating the opinions of the seminars.

At the time, he expressed optimism that through the successful implementation of the strategic plan for the modernisation of the judiciary, the new journey that the judiciary started after the July mass uprising will be completed and the people will regain their lost trust in the judiciary.

Stefan Liller, in his speech, termed the roadmap declared by the chief justice, for the institutionalisation of the country’s judiciary and judicial reform, a timely step.

He also assured to remain beside Bangladesh as the development partner in the modernisation of the judiciary.

A good number of judicial officials from Khulna, Satkhira, and Bagerhat joined the seminar, alongside the lawyers of the district.