None of the 25 recommendations of the Law Commission has been implemented by the government in the last five years, which has generated severe resentment among commission officials.
These recommendations were made for enacting several laws, including a witnesses’ protection law and judges’ appointment rules, which the commission felt is crucial for ensuring the rule of law. “We prepared these reports after taking the opinions of various sections of the people and researching from famous books. We worked day after day for preparing the report in the greater interest of the country as well as for the smooth functioning of the judiciary. But the government did not take any of our recommendations properly,” a senior official of the Commission told The Independent, preferring anonymity.
“If the government would make at least one or two laws in accordance with our recommendations, it would delight us,” he noted.
Mentioning some of the recommendations, he said that in February 2011, the commission, led by the then chairman of the commission, Prof. M Shah Alam, sent a report to the government recommending enactment of a law for providing protection to witnesses in sensitive cases, such as the war crimes case, and the victims of grave crimes.
The commission said Australia, Canada, Brazil, Italy, South Africa, the US, the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Colombia, New Zealand, Thailand and Germany had specific witness protection laws in place.
Talking to The Independent, eminent jurist M Amir-ul Islam said, “There is a bureaucratic gap between the Law Commission and the law making machinery. This gap should be removed as early as possible in order to modernise the laws.”
“If the gap between the law making machinery and the commission is removed by coordinating among each other, the state machinery would benefit,” he pointed out.
According to the commission’s recommendations, the enactment of a specific law would provide all kinds of protection — including psychological — to the witnesses and victims of grave crimes such as wartime atrocities, crimes against humanity and peace, drug dealings, piracy, and so on. The government did not enact a law in this regard though more than two years have elapsed since the recommendation had sent for doing so.
On May 8 last year, the commission sent a report to the government to pass a law on the appointment of Supreme Court (SC) judges.
In its report, the commission said a person should not be qualified to be a judge unless he/she has, for not less than 10 years, been an SC advocate or held a judicial office in the country.
It also stated that the mere enrolment as a lawyer of the Supreme Court should not be acceptable. The lawyer must practise regularly and have a record of a minimum number of successful cases.
A lawyer considered for the position of an SC judge should have the experience of conducting cases in the Appellate Division for at least two years, according to the commission’s recommendation.
In 2011, the commission sent its recommendation to the government on the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, in a bid to accelerate disposal of cases and make the CrPC an Act that is appropriate for the times.
The commission has prepared the recommendations to amend the CrPC Act after taking the opinions of legal experts by conducting some seminars and symposiums and by scrutinising such laws from neighbouring countries, sources said.
Apart from these recommendations, the commission also sent reports for enacting a law against sexual harassment in educational institutions, a report on recommendations for expediting civil proceedings, a report for using Bangla language at the judiciary, a final report for the Amendment of the Divorce Act of 1869 (Divorce of Christian Couples) and enactment of a new law on adoption by the Christians, recommendation of the Law Commission for a possible enhancement of the daughter’s share in the succession of parents’ property in the absence of a son, and recommendations for amendment of certain old and dated laws.
According to an Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) official, in at least 733 of such cases, many of which were against top political leaders, the accused had to be acquitted because a sufficient number of witnesses was not ready to testify against them. The witnesses would not appear before the court for recording their statements due to the lack of a witness protection law, the official said.
The Law Commission was formed in 1996. The aim was to update old and outdated laws and regulations, modernise the judiciary, expedite trials in civil and criminal proceedings, provide training for the people involved in the judiciary, etc.
Courtesy of The Independent
