Suranjit Sengupta, who is presiding over the scrutiny of the Bill on 16th Amendment to the Constitution, now says Parliament will not remove top judges – it will only approve results of investigations finding them guilty.
Speaking at a discussion in Dhaka on Thursday, he said the proposed Bill would be presented in Parliament after certain changes.
He said the law would detail how the investigation would be done but ultimately, the president would remove judges if they are found guilty.
The Bill to restore Parliament’s power to remove judges was tabled last Sunday.
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It has already been reviewed without holding talks with anyone as Sengupta had promised and is expected to be resent to Parliament soon.
Opposition BNP alleges the government is pushing through the Bill to impose itself on the judiciary.
Sengupta said the parliamentary standing committee on law, justice and parliament affairs ministry discussed the Bill twice on Tuesday and Wednesday and fixed a few glitches.
According to him, the Bill is “small in size” and “harmless”.
“It is a totally new bill now…It only has four lines — three from the 1972 (Constitution) and one from the current Constitution,” he said.
Sengupta, who was member of the committee that drafted Bangladesh’s first Constitution, noted that Parliament never had the impeachment power.
Only the president had been empowered to impeach, he said.
Supreme Court judges will be removed on charges of incompetence or misconduct after an investigation but a judge can resign if allegations against him are proven, Sengupta explained.
“The investigation will be impartial. The accused will have to be given a chance to defend themselves.
“Further steps will be taken if the allegations of illness, corruption or misconduct are found true,” he said.
Source: Bd news24