Court Correspondent :
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Sunday again allowed the government one more week for issuing the gazette notification on the disciplinary and conduct rules of the subordinate court judges.
The full Bench of the apex court led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha passed the order yesterday
after hearing on a time petition filed by Attorney General Mahbubey Alam.
Earlier, on July 20, Law Minister Anisul Huq told reporters on the apex court premises that there was a significant progress in a meeting with the Chief Justice about finalizing the rules and issuing the gazette notification. He expressed optimism that the gazette might be finalised within this week.
Earlier on July 16 also, the Law Minister met the Chief Justice to discuss the disciplinary and conduct rules. Anisul Huq then said, the government will finalise the rules determining the discipline and code of conduct for the subordinate court judges by next week.
On July 17, the apex court gave one week time to the government for issuing the gazette notification. Earlier on July 2, the seven-member Bench of the Appellate Division gave the government a two-week ultimatum for issuing the gazette.
The apex court on several occasions expressed annoyance and dissatisfaction at the government’s failure to publish the notification in line with its orders.
Meanwhile, the judiciary was officially separated from the executive in November 2007, but the conduct rules for the subordinate court judges are yet to be finalised.
The government drafted the conduct rules and sent those to the Supreme Court for its opinion about two years ago. The apex court revised the draft in the light of the 1999 verdict in the separation of judiciary case.
