Bangladesh’s judiciary is struggling with one of the lowest judge to population ratios in South Asia, with only 2,307 judges for 180 million people, or roughly one judge for every 78,000 citizens.
This shortage has created a backlog of more than 4.65 million cases, leaving each judge burdened with over 2,000 cases on average. The Appellate Division, staffed by just seven judges, faces 37,000 pending cases.
Although 25 judges were recently appointed to the High Court, several remain inactive due to leave or disciplinary measures.
The Judiciary Reform Commission has urged increasing the number of lower court judges from 2,000 to at least 6,000.
Experts argue immediate recruitment of 1,000 judges and a centralized case management system are necessary.
Officials say new appointments and monitoring committees are underway to ease the crisis.