established, which is chaired by the Minister for Law, Justice
and Parliamentary Affairs.111 Although this Board has a cross
section of people on its executive board that apparently
reflects the government’s acquiescence to having a
transparent system in place, the law allows the government
to remove any of the members without citing any reason.112
The situation is similar with regard to the District Legal Aid
Committees, which are meant to supplement the functions
of the National Legal Aid Board. The law provides that the
treasury of the Legal Aid Board shall be made up of various
government grants, aid from international donor agencies or
resources contributed by organizations, companies or any
other source.113 The Board allocates resources to the District
Legal Aid Committees. There are allegations that a large
percentage of the funds available remain unspent, mostly
due to the highly bureaucratized system and nonresponsiveness of the subordinates of judges and lawyers. It
is pretty obvious that a person who is eligible to receive legal
aid, i.e. a person whose annual income is less than BDT.
3,000 will not have easy access to the District and Sessions
Judges, who chair the District Legal Aid Committees. The
inclusion of the Chairman and 14 members in Upazila and
Union legal aid committees increases the vulnerability of
legal aid seekers many of whom are victimised by these very
local government functionaries.115
116
90
See also, Human Rights Committee, CCPR General Comment No. 6 on the Right
to Life (Art. 6), Sixteenth session, April 30, 1982.