Bangladesh's e-filing (electronic filing) system for company and admiralty matters is gaining popularity as a good number of such disputes have been filed over the period of last seven months.
The system for the company-and admiralty-related cases was introduced with the High Court (HC) division in December 2021, with a view to speeding the court proceedings and saving time and cost. Admiralty refers to the branch of law that deals with ships and shipping.
From December 9, 2021 to July 4, 2022, a total of 211 cases - both companies and admiralty matters -were e-filed.
Of them, 188 are related to different companies, while 23 others are connected to admiralty-related issues.
According to lawyers and court officials, the newly introduced initiative marks the beginning of a new chapter.
Since the matter is new, judges, lawyers, court assistants-staff, lawyers' assistants and other stakeholders need to be properly trained, they observed.
Advocate Mohammad Shishir Manir said e-filing of company and admiralty cases is a landmark initiative that can speed up the court proceedings.
Under the system, lawyers are able to file the lawsuits from any place while the judges concerned can look after them instantly, he told the FE.
Advocate Manir also suggested initiating the e-filing proceeding for the matters of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) in the coming days.
He also underlined the need for the disposal of those matters speedily to end the trial and tribulation of the justice-seekers.
Talking to the FE, SC spokesperson and special officer Barrister Mohammad Saifur Rahman said such matters in the High Court Division can be filed at anytime from anywhere using the electronic filing system.
The IT branch of the SC is maintaining and managing the software, Mr Rahman said.
However, a2i, a special programme of the Bangladesh government, is addressing the technical problem when necessary, the spokesperson added.
Tanjib-ul Alam, an expert in company laws, said in the current e-fling system, lawyers need to file those matters both traditionally and digitally.
To him, introducing the e-filing system is undoubtedly a good initiative but lawyers are facing some problems due to the cumbersome filing process.
The SC should share experiences from other countries which are successfully running the system, the SC lawyer opined.
The apex court is considered to be the court of record constitutionally, so it should investigate and look after the system whether any issue of compliance is violated while e-filing those matters, he pointed out.
On December 1, 2021, the SC administration in a circular directed all parties concerned, regarding admiralty and company matters, to e-file all cases, applications and appeals with the HC from the following December 9.
Regarding the system, several officials said that through the software, a lawyer can log into the designated portal using their user ID and password.
To log into the portal, one has to file a case by uploading or scanning the application, court fees and related documents along with the necessary information of company and admiralty issues.
