Writ filed to divide Dhaka courts into two zones

A writ petition has been filed with the High Court seeking to divide the Dhaka District and Sessions Judge Court and the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court into two separate judicial zones — Dhaka North and Dhaka South.

Advocate Salah Uddin Reagan, who filed the petition, disclosed the development on Tuesday.

Earlier, on September 17, he had sent a legal notice to the law minister, the secretary of the Law and Justice Division and the Registrar General of the Supreme Court, urging them to take necessary administrative, legal and judicial steps in this regard. He moved the High Court after receiving no response.

In the notice, he called for the establishment or restructuring of separate Dhaka North District and Sessions Judge Courts and Dhaka North Metropolitan Sessions Courts, alongside corresponding courts for Dhaka South.

The notice said the existing judicial structure needed to be reorganised in view of Dhaka’s large population, extensive geographical area and the growing number of civil, criminal, family, special and metropolitan criminal cases.

It further noted that the heavy concentration of cases, litigants, lawyers, witnesses, accused persons and other stakeholders was placing considerable pressure on the judicial administration.

As a result, access to courts, case management and the speedy disposal of cases were being hampered, the notice said.