Government may gazette service rules for lower court judges next week

The government hopes to publish the gazette clarifying the service rules for lower court judges next week, Law Minister Anisul Huq has said.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 8 Dec 2017, 02:17 PM
Updated : 8 Dec 2017, 02:17 PM

Speaking to reporters after a programme at Dhaka University on Friday, he said the Prime Minister’s Office forwarded the gazette to the president’s office, the Bangabhaban, on Thursday.

“I hope the gazette will be published in the beginning of next week,” he said.

There has been a tug-of-war between the judiciary and executive over the services rules for long.

After a number of deferral, the Supreme Court on Dec 3 set Dec 10 as the deadline to publish the gazette.

After months of delays, Minister Huq submitted the final draft of the service rules to the Appellate Division for review on Jul 27.

On Jul 30, the then chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha rejected it, saying none of the recommendations made by the court had been included.

As the tension simmered over the issue, Justice Sinha resigned on Nov 10 following intense criticism by the ruling Awami League for scrapping parliament’s powers to sack top judges on grounds of misconduct or incompetency through the cancellation of the 16th constitutional amendment.

After meeting Acting Chief Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah on Nov 16, the law minister said the discord over the service rules for lower court judges ended.

The government drafted the rules for lower court judges last year to fully separate the judiciary from the executive.

The separation followed a historic appellate verdict over a case filed by Judge Masdar Hossain in 1999.

It declared the judicial services independent, dissolving the judicial cadre of Bangladesh Civil Service on the grounds that it was incompatible with the constitution.

In 2007, two separate magistracies for judicial and executive functions were opened.