The Appellate Division has granted the government until Dec 3 to issue a gazette clarifying the service rules for lower court judges.
On Oct 8, after numerous delays, the Appellate Division led by the acting chief justice, had granted the state a four-week extension on the gazette, setting Nov 5 as the deadline.
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.
Source: Bdnews24
