Court Correspondent :
The Chief Justice on Tuesday expressed frustration over the law minister’s remarks suggesting the courts are trying to take away the president’s powers about the code of conduct and service rules for the subordinate court judges.
Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha said this yesterday during a hearing on the validity of mobile courts run by the Executive Magistrates. “You have weakened the independence of the Chief Justice and the judiciary to such an extent … and we can’t say anything?” the Chief Justice added, addressing Attorney General Mahbubey Alam. He questioned the Attorney General, “Can we not offer opinions in court?” He also told the Attorney General, “I ask you, is it fair of some ministers to comment on the remarks made at court ?”
The Chief Justice said that the Law Minister “had been totally satisfied” with the recommendations he made
during their meeting, but the draft he gave is a complete U-turn”. However, the court was deeply unsatisfied with the draft and they remarked, none of their recommendations had been accepted. Law Minister Anisul Huq finally submitted the draft for the subordinate court judges’ service rule gazette on July 27.
Meanwhile, while responding to the Chief Justice, Law Minister Anisul Huq claimed the judiciary was attempting to strip the President of his powers. “Article 109 of the Constitution gives the High Court, not the Appellate Division, the authority to supervise all lower courts and tribunals,” Huq said at a gathering on Monday. The draft of the judges’ service rules was based on that, he said.
The Attorney General further said that comments had been made from all sides and that the media focuses on such things. “Why do you say such things?” the Chief Justice responded. He also said, “We do not make political remarks during court proceedings; we only speak on legal matters.”
At this point, Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah said that the issue of publishing the gazette notification for lower court judges’ service rule came in line with the Supreme Court’s verdict.
