Appointment of SC Judges
Bill seeks change of procedure
A private member's bill was submitted to the parliament secretariat yesterday proposing for enactment of law for specifying qualifications and disqualifications for appointment of judges to the Supreme Court (SC) to do away with the politicization of the appointment process.
The proposed legislation, placed by Jatiya Party MP Mujibul Haque, seeks to curtail the government's sweeping authority to appoint judges to the SC.
It proposed to form a Superior Judicial Commission lead by the chief justice to recommend names to the president to appoint as judges to the High Court (HC) Division as well as the Appellate Division.
The judicial commission, as the bill proposed, will consist of a senior judge of the Appellate Division, a senior judge of the HC Division, a lawmaker nominated by the Speaker, Public Service Commission's chairman, attorney general and president of Supreme Court Bar Association.
The commission will select competent individuals for appointment as judges to the HC Division and will also determine the number of SC judges considering the number of pending cases and other aspects.
The president, if need be, will have the authority to refuse any recommendation of the commission, said the proposed legislation in the copy of the bill obtained by The Daily Star.
According to the current constitutional provision, a person shall be qualified for the appointment if he or she has been an advocate of the SC or has held judicial office for at least 10 years.
The constitution also provides "other qualifications" to be prescribed by law. But none of the successive governments has moved to enact a law prescribing these criteria.
Legal experts said the current criteria allowed all successive governments to pick persons loyal to them as SC judges without scrutinising their academic qualifications, professional ability, goodwill and honesty.
In the wake of the prevailing situation, the Jatiya Party MP submitted the bill to the parliament secretariat.
The proposed legislation, which will be placed in parliament soon, also seeks to specify some other qualifications for individuals willing to get appointed as SC judges.
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