SC to strengthen legal aid activities across country

Staff Reporter  :
Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique has taken some special measures to strengthen and accelerate the legal aid activities of the country.
He has formed a committee headed by Justice Naima Haider, a judge of the High Court Division of the Supreme Court and also the chairman of Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee, in order to provide necessary guidance along with close monitoring and speed up the activities of the Legal Aid Officers in 64 districts of the country.
Supreme Court Legal Aid Officer (Additional District and Sessions Judge) Farah Mamun will provide secretarial support to the committee.
‘Monitoring Committee for District Legal Aid Officers’ will now monitor the activities of the district legal aid office and give guidance to the legal aid officers, said a notification issued recently by Supreme Court Registrar General Md Golam Rabbani.
As of March in 2023, National Legal Aid Services Organization (NLASO) has given legal advice to 3,53,656 people since its inception in 2009.  It has given legal aid in 3,51,632 cases by this time, said tally of the office.
A total of 1,75,247 cases disposed of after receiving legal aid from NLASO, the tally also read. A total of 8,79,929 people have been benefited from the NLASO so far in many ways.
Earlier on January 27 in 2022, the Chief Justice appointed eight judges of the High Court division of the SC to monitor the proceedings and to reduce the case backlog of the subordinate courts across the country by speeding up the work there.
It was said in a notification that each of the judges will monitor the proceedings of each of the eight divisions of the country.
Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam will monitor the proceedings of the subordinate courts of Dhaka division, Justice Md Jahangir Hossain will monitor the courts of Khulna division, Justice Zafar Ahmed will oversee the proceedings of Barishal division and Justice Md Kamrul Hossain Mollah will monitor the proceedings of Chattogram division, according to the notification.
Justice S M Kuddus Zaman has been appointed to monitor the proceedings of Sylhet division, Justice Shahed Nuruddin will see the proceedings of Rangpur division, Justice Md Zakir Hossain will see the proceedings of Mymensingh division and Justice Md Akhtaruzzaman will see the proceedings of Rajshahi division, also read the notification.