Desk Report:
Advisor to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Professor Dr. Asif Nazrul said, ‘You will see what I will do. You will have to see it through my work. Apart from the legal aid work I have done, we have done many other things that have never happened in the history of Bangladesh.’
He made these comments at a program organized on Wednesday (September 17) afternoon to mark the implementation of the mandatory provision of pre-litigation mediation as per the Legal Aid (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025. The program was held at a prestigious hotel in Sylhet.
Asif Nazrul said, ‘Everyone has social media, they can write whatever they want. I often hear, “What have you done? You sat on the blood of martyrs, we made you sit, what have you done?” I don’t understand what the Ansar will be. I am not a football player, nor am I an actor in a stage play, you can see what I will do.’
Senior judges of the judiciary, representatives of friendly countries and development partners, lawyers of the Sylhet Bar Association, officials of various government departments, and representatives of print and electronic media were present at the event.
At the event, the legal advisor said, “We have separated the civil courts and criminal courts so that the settlement in the civil courts increases and the settlement of cases is expedited. This has never been done before in Bangladesh. Earlier, the power to create judicial posts was in the hands of political ministers. We have given this to the Chief Justice Officer.”
The advisor said, 90 out of 100 people do not go to court for the solution that people get through legal aid. The case is settled there. However, when a case is filed in a conventional court, even after a case is filed in a judicial court, someone goes to the high court to appeal. Through legal aid, people get justice in less time and at less cost, there is much less suffering, and many more people get justice. There is a lot of work to be done here.
Dr. Asif Nazrul said, ‘Legal aid was not mandatory earlier, now we have made it mandatory to reduce the backlog of cases. You have to go to legal aid. If you are dissatisfied after going there, then you will go to the judicial court. This is the number one change we have made. Number two is that we have specified 11 types of laws in legal aid cases. Here we have also specified check cases.’
Regarding the benefits of the implementation of the new ordinance, the advisor said that the mandatory provision of pre-litigation mediation will make the path to protecting people’s rights easier. On the one hand, the time for settling cases will be reduced, as well as the cost will be saved. The backlog of cases will be reduced and the harassment of the people will be eliminated. As a result of this change, the people will get legal remedies quickly, which will greatly increase the establishment of justice.
Sheikh Ashfaqur Rahman, Executive Director of the National Legal Aid Organization and Senior District Judge, and Mohammad Halim Ullah Chowdhury, Chairman of the Sylhet District Legal Aid Committee, Senior District and Sessions Judge, and many others also spoke at the event on the role of the District Judiciary Department in implementing pre-trial mediation.
