Professor Dr. Asif Nazrul, legal adviser to the interim government and a faculty member of Dhaka University’s law department, stated that Bangladesh is now reaping the benefits of reforms made to the Legal Aid Act during the interim administration. In a Facebook post on Wednesday, he said the Ministry of Law had implemented several reforms, one of which expanded and partially mandated pre-trial dispute resolution while tripling the number of judges.
Nazrul noted that as a result of these changes, the number of cases filed under legal aid dropped by an average of 62 percent within a year. He described the initiative as a pilot project that included provisions for further expansion. He expressed confidence that current Law Minister Asaduzzaman, whom he described as a skilled legal expert, would ensure the project’s full implementation.
Nazrul added that the continued execution of these reforms could significantly reduce the country’s longstanding case backlog, marking a major step toward improving access to justice.