execution of the Act. Access to Justice: While impediments to access to justice are grounded in structural inadequacies and deficiency in governance, the situation is augmented by the absence of a sound knowledge base about rights and entitlements amongst disadvantaged groups and a lack of capacity to deal with the systemic problems they encounter in their daily lives.107 Khair identifies the following as the major barriers to access to justice in Bangladesh: Absence of legal awareness and knowledge, legal ambiguities and procedural complexities, threats to judicial independence, delays and costs, lack of information on administrative processes, indifference of actors in governance, corruption and absence of good governance and accountability, conflicting socio-cultural and religious norms.108 Access to justice is not only central to the realisation of constitutionally guaranteed rights, but also to broader goals of development and poverty reduction.109 As Shihata observes, legal and regulatory frameworks are increasingly being viewed as a fundamental element, not only in the realm of protecting property and contractual rights and ensuring a fair and quick settlement of disputes but also in 110 I Shihata, The World Bank in a Changing World (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1999), 234. 111 Section 6 (1) of the Act. 88