The Supreme Court has rejected the draft of a gazette that clarifies the service rules for lower court judges submitted by Law Minister Anisul Huq.
“The law minister has made a complete U-turn following our meeting,” he said.
After months of delays, the law minister submitted the final draft to the Appellate Division for review.
The Appellate Division had given the government until Jul 30 to issue the gazette following a petition by Attorney General Mahbubey Alam.
The matter was raised before the six-member bench led by the chief justice on Sunday.
Justice Sinha and other judges have now offered to sit with the state representatives from 2pm to midnight every day until Thursday to finalise the draft.
“Let us sit and discuss. No more delays,” Justice Sinha said.
The court then adjourned the matter until next Sunday.
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 draft of rules submitted 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