Record Tk4,200cr money suits settled in 2022

Infographic: TBS

The civil courts of the country have settled a record 3,348 lawsuit disputes in business and personal transactions last year allowing several organisations and individuals to recover some Tk4,200 crore, the highest amount recovered in five years through resolution of transaction-related cases.

Some 60% of these cases settled last year were linked to business transactions.

In 2021, some Tk2,600 crore were recovered through the settlement of 2,180 lawsuits by the court, also known as the Artha Rin Adalat, and presided over by the senior assistant judge, joint district judge and additional district judge courts of 64 districts of the country.

The money was recovered based on judgements not appealed against, say people concerned.

Law Minister Anisul Haque told TBS that the Ministry of Law and the Supreme Court have given instructions to judges to settle all types of cases in a speedy manner.

However, in the past few years, a significant number of training of judges has been organised with the help of various domestic and foreign organisations including UNDP, World Bank, GIZ, ADB, to settle money related cases quickly.

The law minister believes a significant amount of money lawsuits have been settled due to the effect of these training sessions.

According to the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index-2020, Bangladesh ranked 189th among 190 economies in terms of Enforcing Contracts – an indicator that measured the time and cost to resolve a commercial dispute and the quality of judicial processes.

Advocate Probir Neogi, a company law expert, told The Business Standard that speeding up the resolution of business-related cases would certainly improve the business environment and make business easier.

"This is only one type of case where only disputes related to money transactions have been resolved. Parties involved in most of the cases are small and middle class traders.

The companies, however, move the High Court for similar disputes, while there are now many check dishonour cases for loans, transacted through bank cheques. Then there are disputes about shares of various companies, he said, adding, "Settlement of these cases should also be fast to improve the business environment."

How a money suit is settled

Alal Ahmed, the owner of Alal Bastro Bitan, a wholesaler of sarees and lungis in Narsingdi Sadar, filed a case in February 2019 in the Joint District Judge's Court of Narsingdi district seeking the payback of Tk27 lakh from his wholesale buyer Sabuj Mia of Sirajganj.

The case was adjudicated in June last year, and the court ordered payment of the amount in four monthly instalments. At the same time, the court did not slap any fine on Sabuj Mia as he promised to pay the money within four months. In October, he filed an affidavit to the court informing it that all four instalments have been paid.

"I was able to increase the scope of the business with that money," said Alal Ahmed.

Defendant Sabuj Mia said, "I was having trouble paying that money due to personal problems. While delivering the verdict, the court said if the amount is paid in full within four months, there will be no penalty and I took that opportunity. Or else it would have cost me another five lakhs.

Alal's case is one of last year's 3,348 lawsuits, of which 1,029 judgments have been appealed against. As the defendants accepted the judgments in 2,319 lawsuits and did not appeal, they moved to pay the plaintiffs in the amount totalling Tk4,200 crore.

In 2021, defendants appealed the judgments of 930 cases of the total 2180 suits.

In 2020, the number of settled money lawsuits were 2,235, of which 850 judgments were appealed while 1385 judgments were accepted by the defendants who in total paid some Tk2,000 crore.

The civil courts, in 2019, disposed of 2,243 cases, of which 1,130 judgments were appealed while defendants of 1,113 lawsuits paid about Tk2,000 crore to the claimants.

In 2018, about 2,000 money lawsuits were settled of which about 921 judgments were appealed while defendants of 1,078 cases paid up about Tk2,100 crore.

Why the jump in recovery amount?

According to some lower court judges and lawyers, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic that pushed businesses and ordinary people into disarray, rightful claimants would benefit a great deal if they could recover the money they are owed and the court took the situation into account.  

Some judges pointed out that in these cases, the defendants are usually fined depending on the validity of the claims of the right claimants (plaintiffs) at the time of judgement.

But in the cases settled last year, the defendants were not fined that much. The verdicts came with an instalment facility to pay back only the principal amount with the defendants providing an undertaking to the court.

Narsingdi District Bar Association President Advocate Kazi Nazmul Islam told The Business Standard that about 120 such lawsuits were settled in this district last year – more than in the last few years. In these cases, about 80 were businessmen.

"We have brought to the court's attention the issues people are facing due to Covid and the Russia-Ukraine war. The court also took it into account and settled such cases quickly," he said.

The disposal rate of all types of cases is increasing now compared to previous years, the minister added.

How speedy settlement is possible

Former Law Minister Barrister Shafiq Ahmed, an expert in civil law, said that it does not take much time to judge cases related to money transactions. Because in these cases, the appropriate documents of money transactions are the main evidence for the trial. Apart from this, one or two witnesses are required to testify. A money suit can be disposed of within two/three working days if the court so wishes.

He advised the Law Ministry that each district should have a separate court to try money suits, where only cases related to money transactions will be judged.

More cases, appeals pending

According to the Supreme Court sources, there are about 29,000 money suits pending in the lower courts amounting to transactions worth of Tk17,000 crores. Of these cases, about 4,000 cases are pending for more than 10 years while some 8,000 cases are pending for more than five years.

In addition, there are about 11,000 appeals pending in the District Judge's Court, High Court and the Appellate Division, involving some Tk8,000 crore.

Barrister Shafiq Ahmed also said about 40 lakh cases are pending in all courts including the Supreme Court.

"Initiatives should be taken for speedy disposal of these cases and applying Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) provisions in money transaction or money related cases will yield better results," he added.