No leeway to rehear cases awaiting full verdicts, says former chief justice Muzammel Hossain

There is no room to rehear cases that have already been disposed of, former chief justice Md Muzammel Hossain has said.

He gave his view on a point of law to bdnews24.com in the light of some of his cases awaiting the full verdict being put up in the cause list for rehearing.

"I find that some cases, the hearing of which had been done in my time, have come up for rehearing. In my view, such hearings are not legally right,” Justice Hossain said.

“This is because there is no scope for fresh hearings. Our Supreme Court rules, the Constitution, and the law do not permit that."

But he said an aggrieved party could seek a review of a verdict after the publication of its full version.

Justice Hossain served as Bangladesh's 20th chief justice until he retired in January 2015.

Recounting his experience, Justice Hossain said, "I retired in 2015. Between January and December 2015, I signed several orders and verdicts, some of which were mine and the rest of my colleagues. Among the last ones some were by Mr Sinha (the present chief justice).

"So, this question never crossed my mind. And there was no reason for it to arise either because this has been a traditional practice. They signed the full verdicts of my judgments, and I singed theirs until December."

On Jan 17 this year, the incumbent Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha said some judges took far too long to write their verdicts, and some kept writing them long after their retirement. He described this practice to be against the law.

The observation triggered a major debate among legal experts.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court's online cause list for May 2 showed over a hundred cases had been listed for rehearing.

The observation triggered a major debate among legal experts.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court's online cause list for May 2 showed over a hundred cases had been listed for rehearing.

The chief justice's Personal Secretary (appeals division) Md Anisur Rahman told bdnews24.com on Thursday: "One hundred and sixty-eight cases that had been disposed of had been put up for rehearing."

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The Supreme Court website shows the bench headed by the chief justice has 106 cases (169-275 on the list) lined up for rehearing.

Likewise, the bench headed by Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Mia had 60 cases (212-272) listed for fresh hearing.

‘Unfortunate’

Former chief justice Hossain explained the elaborate vetting a judgment by an author judge is put through by running it past the judges in a bench.

He said he was surprised to find five of his judgments that had been in circulation and approved were back for rehearing. "This is unfortunate. I fail to understand why that happened."      

Justice Hossain also spoke on the controversial issue of judges writing their verdicts after retirement.

"As a Supreme Court lawyer in the early part of my career,” he said, “as judge later, and subsequently as the chief justice I learnt that this practice has no legal bar.

"Our Constitution does not forbid it, nor does the law. Hence, it is a traditional legal practice."

He said judges had been writing their verdicts after retirement - be it the chief justice or any other judge - since independence.