Tribunal judges, prosecutors and police officers of cases filed under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act are not abiding by its provision of explaining reasons for not completing trials within 180 days, the Supreme Court administration said in a notification today.

SC Registrar General Md Ali Akbar issued the notification asking them to submit reports in 30 days on the delay in finishing trial proceedings within the stipulated time to the authorities concerned of the SC and government.

The notification said there is a provision under section 20 of the Act that says that trial proceedings must be completed within 180 days of the tribunal accepting cases for trial.

If the trials of the cases cannot be completed in 180 days, the tribunal judges, prosecutors or police officers will have to submit separate reports explaining the delay to the SC in 30 days under section 31(ka) of the act, but the provision is not being followed, the SC administration said in the notification.

The SC registrar general also said that the same notification had been issued on November 27, 2016.

On May 12, 2017, the High Court directed the SC administration to form a cell to monitor whether trials of cases filed under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, 2000 are completed within 180 days.

The monitoring cell, headed by the registrar general of the SC, would report to the SC and the government for taking appropriate action against judges, public prosecutors and investigation officers who fail to assign causes for not disposing of the cases on time, according to the HC directive.

Three years down the line, the SC administration failed to constitute the cell.

The HC directive came in the full text of a verdict delivered by the HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice JBM Hassan. The full text was released on May 12, 2017.

On December 5, 2016, the bench delivered a short verdict after hearing a suomotu (voluntary) rule.

The HC judges said in the full verdict, "…the Registrar General of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh is directed to constitute a Monitoring Cell headed by him or the Registrar of the High Court Division along with the Secretary or his representative not below the rank of Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Law and Justice Division, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs.

"The Monitoring Cell shall monitor this aspect and shall submit report from time to time to the concerned authorities of the responsible persons for taking appropriate action in accordance with section 31Ka (3) of the Act, 2000 with a copy thereof to the Monitoring Committee for the Subordinate Judiciary of the Supreme Court," the HC said in the verdict.