Govt drowns in 1.35 lakh cases, pays Tk1,000cr a year

A mounting wave of lawsuits against government ministries and departments is paralysing the public administration and draining the state exchequer of thousands of crores of taka.

Pending litigations across the High Court and Appellate Division of the Supreme Court have climbed to approximately 1.35 lakh cases as of June this year, up sharply from roughly 95,000 cases five years ago.

The financial toll is substantial. Approximately 2,000 panel lawyers, alongside counsel from the Attorney General's Office, handle these disputes at an estimated annual cost of more than Tk1,000 crore in fees and litigation expenses. 

Data from the law ministry's Solicitor Division indicates that the government has spent roughly Tk7,000 crore over the past decade solely on legal representation.

Beyond direct legal fees, prolonged appeals cause claims to compound through accumulated interest. In 2025 alone, final settlements forced the government to disburse Tk870 crore against various claims. Officials note that this judicial backlog increasingly compromises governance, forcing administrators to defend past decisions rather than implement new policies.

The epicenter: education sector paralysis

The Ministry of Education alone accounts for more than 60% of the total national caseload, roughly 83,500 active cases. The situation intensified following political transitions, triggering over 1,700 writ petitions regarding school and college ad hoc committees alone.

Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon recently highlighted the administrative standstill, noting that court disputes have indefinitely stalled critical recruitment drives, including positions for 32,500 teachers.

The issue was also raised during a Parliament session.

When lawmaker Zainul Abedin Farroque raised the issue on 17 June, the education minister mentioned that recruitment of 32,500 teachers, along with two other recruitment processes involving 2,600 and 17,000 teachers, was being held up by court cases.

Milon pointed out that of these, 13,078 cases involving various departments, boards and universities under the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education are pending before the courts.

"The Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education alone has 5,831 cases, while the Directorate of Primary Education has 3,282 cases. The burden of such a large number of cases has created a major standstill in the policymaking and implementation process of the education administration."

When contacted by phone and text message recently, the minister did not respond to requests for comment on the cases.

The number of cases increased significantly after the political changeover on 5 August 2024.

According to documents from the legal wing of the ministry, at least 13,078 cases involving three divisions, 16 departments, 11 education boards, and 170 public and private universities are pending.

The Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education alone is dealing with 5,831 cases, while the Directorate of Primary Education has 3,282. There are currently 1,663 pending cases involving the 11 education boards. Of these, 1,552 are with the nine general education boards and 111 with the technical and madrasa education boards.

Infographic: Tbs

Information from the Supreme Court, the Solicitor Wing of the law ministry, and the Cabinet Division shows that around 8,000 writ petitions are still pending in the High Court over various disputes involving school and madrasa managing committees and college governing bodies. 

In each of these writ petitions, the education secretary has been made a defendant.

Cases also concern teacher recruitment, appointments through the Non-Government Teachers' Registration and Certification Authority, examination re-evaluation, college principal appointments, and recruitment of primary school office assistants-cum-night guards.

Other writ petitions challenge promotions, MPO status, transfers, attachment as officer on special duty (OSD), and administrative decisions by educational institutions.

A system-wide administrative burden

While education bears the heaviest load, significant litigation pressures extend across multiple state entities.

According to the Attorney General's Office, 35,000 of the 1.35 lakh writ petitions and appeals were filed before 2010. The remaining cases were filed over the past 16 years.

They include writ petitions seeking amendments to laws; challenging promotions and government appointments; halting ministry initiatives; demanding new ones; and seeking compensation for accidents involving government vehicles.

Other cases concern recruitment disputes, demands for medical services, government housing, khas land and acquired land, as well as tax- and VAT-related writs and appeals.

According to information from the Cabinet Division and the Solicitor Wing, around 6,000 writ petitions are pending against the Internal Resources Division, including the National Board of Revenue.

The Local Government Division faces 1,600 cases, the housing and public works ministry 1,100, the environment ministry 2,100, the liberation war ministry 745, the Financial Institutions Division 2,056, the Health Services Division 638 and the food ministry 656, among other divisions, departments and ministries. Meanwhile, 813 cases have been filed against the Anti-Corruption Commission.

Expert critique and official response

Constitutional expert Shahdeen Malik attributes the ballooning numbers to frivolous writ petitions driven by vested interests, coupled with administrative negligence once the state becomes a defendant. Malik advocates for dedicated, temporary Supreme Court benches to fast-track legacy government cases and calls for strict accountability for negligent state officials.

He said people who file writ petitions or cases seeking justice sometimes spend years going from one court to another and, in some cases, die without receiving justice. At the same time, the burden of cases on the government continues to grow, along with the cost.

A deputy secretary of the Cabinet Division responsible for monitoring cases against the government told TBS that the division had formed a committee to monitor such cases.

"The committee is taking various steps to settle the cases and is working with the law ministry and the Attorney General's Office. However, there has not been much progress so far. The number of cases is increasing continuously," the official said.

Law Minister Md Asaduzzaman said the Attorney General's Office was working with ministries and their institutions to take initiatives to settle the cases quickly. 

Attorney General Ruhul Quddus Kazal, however, said the Attorney General's Office was working to oversee cases involving the government's interests. "There has been a lot of progress in the new circumstances. Effective initiatives have been taken to settle many old cases," he said.

Finding a way out

Shahdeen Malik said the government must work sincerely and with good intentions to reduce the number of cases it faces.

"There is a government monitoring committee, and it must take effective measures. In many cases, there is negligence on the part of officials responsible for handling cases in different courts, and visible steps must be taken to prevent this," he said.

"If necessary, separate High Court and Appellate Division benches should be formed for a specific period to settle old cases involving the government's interests," he said.