A high-level meeting of the Ministry of Home Affairs on September 26 discussed the issue of setting up a courthouse in the western or northern Dhaka to remove sufferings of people who have to come to the court from a distant place.

Presently, 40,000 cases are awaiting disposal in the CMM court and each magistrate has to deal with about 2,000 cases on average. Apart from judges and lawyers, around 12,000 people related with these cases come to the court every day from different areas of the city. These people include plaintiffs, accused, witnesses and their relatives.

"It is difficult for people who are forced to come from Uttara or Mirpur to the opposite part of the city for court related works," said a home ministry official.

"This is not only a hazard for the people, but also for the law enforcement agencies engaged in maintaining security in the court area," he added.

According to the plan, the government will set up another courthouse in the northern part of the city with one CMM and two additional CMMs. The additional CMMs will be responsible for each courthouse under the supervision of the CMM.

"Final decision is yet to be made. This [The new courthouses] will be convenient for people who come from distant places for court related works," said Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner SM Mizanur Rahman.

The ministry is now considering a proposal for setting up a court at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, a source said. "Nothing is yet final regarding the move."

Dhaka is a city of about 10 million people but the number of magistrate court in the city is only 23 while New Delhi has 166 courts for 8 million people. Around 4,000 cases are filed a month at the courts of the rapidly expanding city.

The present location of the city's CMM court in the old part of the city is inconvenient for justice seekers and others as the area is highly congested.

"We are planning to set up at least 50 courts that will end logjam of cases," State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar told newsmen earlier. Twenty-three courts are not enough for the large number of people living in Dhaka, he added.

Home ministry officials said most of the lawyers are discouraging the government plan for shifting a part of the court as the relocation will be inconvenient for them.

"If the court is shifted, the practitioners will have to move to both the places for their clients. Now they are able to do their job from one place," a senior home ministry official said, quoting the opinion of lawyers' representative in the meeting.

Following the demand for formation of more courts, the previous Awami League government constituted three courts in 2001, pushing the number to 23.