Procedural Experiences from the Civil Courts of Bangladesh: Case Management as a Potential Means of Reducing Backlogs

Abstract

Bangladesh has a very large population of 160 million, although it is relatively small geographically, covering an area of only 143,998 sq km. The backlog of cases in the Subordinate Courts of Bangladesh reached 2,495,944 at the end of 2014, putting great pressure on the legal system and those who use it. Research has been conducted to isolate the causes of the backlog, to study the potential impact of case management in reducing case backlogs, and to adapt these findings to suggest a suitable case management method for the civil courts of Bangladesh. Semi-structured, open-ended interviews with lawyers, litigants, judges, and court staff were conducted in seven districts of Bangladesh between September 2013 and January 2014. This article outlines the preliminary results of empirical research into the nature and causes of backlogs in the civil courts of Bangladesh, and makes recommendations arising from those preliminary results.