Judges’ service rules: Govt gets 3 more days

The Appellate Division has given the government three more days to issue a gazette clarifying the service rules for lower court judges.

The bench led by acting Chief Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah granted more time for the long-delayed gazette after a petition by Attorney General Mahbubey Alam on Sunday. The government has been instructed to issue it by Wednesday.

The Appellate Division had previously set the deadline on Dec 10 after a hearing on Dec 3.

“It is coming along,” the attorney general said at the hearing on Sunday. “They are working on it.”

The court then deferred the hearing until Dec 13, the last day of court proceedings before it goes into the winter recess. The court will resume work on Jan 1.

On Friday Law Minister Anisul Huq said the Prime Minister’s Office had forwarded the gazette to the Bangabhaban on Thursday.

“I hope the gazette will be published around the start of next week,” he had said.

The gazette has been part of a long back-and-forth between the executive branch and the judiciary.

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

But on Jul 30, Justice Sinha rejected it saying none of the recommendations made by the court had been included in it.

Justice Sinha and other judges of the six-member Appellate Division bench then offered to sit with the state representatives, including the law minister and the attorney general to finalise the draft.

Huq told the media that he would sit with the top court judges on Aug 3, but later deferred it citing health issues.

The government submitted a draft of the rules for lower court judges last year to separate the judiciary from the executive.

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

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

But the rules drafted by the government last year were declared incompatible with the Masdar Hossain case verdict because it appeared similar to the Government Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules 1985.

The Supreme Court then amended the draft and sent it back to the law ministry, asking it to finalise and submit it as a report.