Govt looks into why it's losing so many cases in higher court

The government is losing a lot of cases in the higher court due to failures to file quality replies, provide necessary documents, or present proper grounds, as well as delays.

Reports sent to a high-level government committee from the Directorate of Secondary & Higher Education, the Ministry of Railways, and the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education cited the reasons for the loss of cases.

The members of the committee said they think that along with these factors, the government loses many cases due to the inefficiency and negligence of the legal department employees of various offices.

The minutes of the sixth meeting of the "Inter-Ministerial Committee on Monitoring the Proceedings of the Government Related Cases in the higher court" have mentioned these reasons for the government losing the cases. Cabinet Secretary Md Mahbub Hossain presided over the meeting held at his office in Dhaka on 27 March.

According to the meeting minutes, 171 cases were ruled against the government during the period from October to December in 2023. During that time, 426 cases were disposed of in favour of various agencies of the government. The government, during the time, appealed 441 cases that were ruled against its favour.

The minutes also mentioned that till December last year, there were 95,455 pending cases related to government interest in various courts.

During the meeting, Mohammad Mesbah Uddin Chowdhury, senior secretary of the public administration ministry, said in most cases, the officers or employees who work in the law departments in government offices are not that skilled in the subject.

Md Khairuzzaman Mozumder, finance secretary, said even the orders passed in favour of the government are often not understood by the employees of the legal departments, resulting in unnecessary appeals.

Mohammad Salah Uddin, senior secretary of the Prime Minister's Office, said if evidence of negligence or irresponsibility is found in any case, punishment should be taken against the officer concerned.

Cabinet Secretary Md Mahbub Hossain said coordination should be ensured between the offices concerned, the solicitor wing of the law ministry and law officers so that the government does not lose cases.

The solicitor wing said replies to the cases are sent to the Attorney General's office as soon as they come from the ministries. The solicitor wing does not re-record the replies of any case, it said.

The meeting decided that appeals should be filed in time in cases where the verdicts go against the government.

Earlier, the solicitor wing issued a circular specifying the type of documents to be presented in the court in a case.

The committee decided that the cases filed on the same subjects would be put for analogous hearing. All the ministries have been asked to send information on similar cases to the solicitor wing.

Recruitment of private lawyers

The committee has decided to formulate a policy regarding recruitment of private lawyers to handle government cases. Officials said the law ministry has already prepared a draft, which will be finalised before the next meeting.

Besides, initiatives have also been taken to amend the Administrative Tribunals Act 1980. The amendment would extend the deadline for cases to be considered inactive.

The current timeframe of cases to be considered inactive ranges from 7 days to 12 years depending on the content and events. However, most cases have a time limit of one to three years.

Creating database for government cases with higher court 

In order to store the information on the ongoing cases of the government in the higher court, and to carry out activities related to case management efficiently and dynamically, an initiative has been taken to launch a Smart Case Management System under the initiative of the Cabinet Division.

The work of uploading the case information in the system and data entry has already started, said officials. The success of the system depends on timely uploading of case information, they said.

About 20 types of information need to be attached to a case in the system, the officials said.

Attorney General AM Amin Uddin told TBS, "An initiative has been taken to expedite the disposal of cases involving the government. The Cabinet Division and the Ministry of Law are working on this. The Cabinet Division has also issued special instructions to the ministries and offices of the government concerned to take initiative for the speedy disposal of cases."

It is hoped that the new initiative will lead to satisfactory progress in the disposal of cases involving the government, he said.