Jurisdictional and Procedural Dilemmas of the Family Courts in Bangladesh
M Jashim Ali Chowdhury*
Asma Bint Shafiq**
Published in the Jahangirnagar University Journal of Law, Volume IX: 2021, Issue I, pp 51-71;
Full Text Available at:
The Family Courts Ordinance (FCO) 1985 was touted as a very significant
development in the personal law enforcement regime. It sought to establish a
civil court of exclusive jurisdiction to dispose of family suits. The court was
supposed not to follow the rules of regular civil process codified in the Code
of Civil Procedure (CPC) 1908. Instead, the Ordinance tried to provide a
framework of rules that would avoid the protracted CPC process and ensure
speedy disposal of the family suits. Additionally, a two-stage system of
mediation was introduced in a hope that the avenues of alternative dispute
resolution would help reduce the caseload of the courts and ease the sufferings
of the litigants. The FCO also attempted to make the court’s decree execution
process less cumbersome and more litigant friendly. This paper suggests that
the system has failed in almost every aspect of its so-called speciality -
exclusivity of its jurisdiction, avoidance of the CPC, the two-stage mediation
and efficient and timely execution of decrees. After explaining how this is
the case, the paper concludes with some recommendations touching upon key
weaknesses of the system.
* PhD Candidate,
King’s College London, London, UK. Email: m.chowdhury@kcl.ac.uk.
** Associate Professor, Department of Law, University of
Chittagong, Email: asmabs04@yahoo.com
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