The physical hearing in the Supreme Court resumed on Wednesday after more than one and a half years of suspension due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The five-member Appellate Division bench headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain started holding hearing from 9:00am.
The chief justice at the beginning of the day’s proceedings said that many cases were disposed of via virtual hearing in the last one and half years. The Appellate Division had 24,000 pending cases, of which now around 15,500 remain. The rest were disposed of virtually, he added.
The decision of resuming physical activities in Supreme Court was taken in a meeting last week. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain.
Later, the Supreme Court administration had issued a notification in this regard on Monday (November 29).
Signed by Registrar General of Supreme Court Md Ali Akbar, the notification says that the court’s proceedings will comply with the Covid-19 health rules strictly.
Bangladesh started its journey of conducting judicial proceedings through virtual courts on May 12 in 2020 following the Covid-19 situation.
Earlier on May 9 in 2020, President Md Abdul Hamid promulgated an ordinance titled as ‘Use of Information and Communication Technology by Courts Ordinance, 2020’, allowing regular court proceedings to be conducted virtually during the Covid-19 lockdown in Bangladesh.
