SC proposes Judicial Appointment Council for selecting new HC judges

The Supreme Court has prepared a draft ordinance incorporating the provision for constituting a Judicial Appointment Council in order to select competent candidates for their appointment as new High Court judges.
The draft of the proposed ordinance has been sent to the judges of both the Appellate and High Court Divisions of the SC on November 14 seeking their opinions and a total of 18 written opinions have been received by the SC till November 24.
The draft ordinance is awaiting submission to the ministry of law, justice and parliamentary affairs after examining the opinions under the overall supervision of Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, a SC press release said yesterday.
Formulating a law for appointment of HC judges under the constitution is a longstanding demand from different sections of people particularly the Supreme Court Bar Association.
Article 95(1) (c) of the constitution says, “Qualifications as may be prescribed by law for appointment as a Judge of the Supreme Court”.
The development over preparation of the draft ordinance came in line with the chief justice’s announcement of a roadmap for the reforms in the judiciary.
On September 21, Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed in an address to lower court judges has announced the roadmap, saying that he would take steps for formulating a law for appointment of HC judges and for the establishment of a separate secretariat for the judiciary.
On October 27, the SC has sent a proposal to the law ministry for establishing a separate secretariat for the judiciary to make it truly independent and effectively separate it from the executive branch and bringing an end of the law ministry’s control over the lower courts.
Before the proposal was sent to the law ministry, opinions of judges of both the Appellate and HC divisions were solicited.
The SC press release said in continuation of the chief justice’s announcement of the roadmap, the SC administration on September 25 introduced a helpline number (+88 01316154216) to assist the litigants or service recipients so that they don’t face obstacles at any section of its registry office.
A total of 723 calls regarding legal advice, case-related information and filing of complaints have been received over the helpline number.
Out of these, the callers concerned have received legal advice through 426 calls. In addition, the service recipients have received case-related information through a total of 243 calls.
Total 42 calls regarding various irregularities, negligence in work, delay in receiving services and corruption have been received and necessary legal action has been taken in response to those complaints, according to the press release.
Following the SC verdict on October 20, 2024, the Supreme Judicial Council regarding the removal of judges has been revived.
The three-member Supreme Judicial Council, headed by the Chief Justice of Bangladesh, Dr Syed Refaat Ahmed, has already started its activities.
In continuation of that, three judges of the High Court Division expressed their desire to resign from their posts through a letter addressed to the president, and their resignations were accepted on November 19, 2024.
It is to be noted that the activities of the Supreme Judicial Council are still ongoing.
Thus, various activities are ongoing under the roadmap regarding the judiciary announced by the chief justice of Bangladesh. These activities will be able to play a strong role in establishing justice in the country through the overall improvement of the judiciary and effective separation of the judiciary, the SC press release stated.