Staff Reporter :
The High Court on Wednesday issued a rule asking the law secretary and a deputy secretary of the law ministry to explain in two weeks as to why the law ministry’s decision to stand-release the Pirojpur District and Sessions Judge after passing an order should not be declared illegal.
The High Court bench of Justice Tariq ul Hakim and Justice Md Iqbal Kabir passed the order on a Suo Moto move after few lawyers of the Supreme Court, including Advocate Md Eunus Ali Akond and Advocate M Abdul Qaium, brought the matter of the stand-release to the attention of the High Court bench.
The court fixed March 11 for further hearing on the case.
The government’s decision to release the district and sessions judge after his passing an order is a threat to the independence of judiciary, said advocate M Abdul Qaium.
Earlier on the day, two other Supreme Court lawyers, Advocate Shishir Monir and Barrister Syed Sayedul Haque Suman, brought the matter to the two other HC benches, but the benches did not pass any order on it.
The law ministry on Tuesday released a Pirojpur district and sessions judge hours after he had sent a former Awami League lawmaker and his wife to jail in three corruption cases.
Law ministry and Supreme Court (SC) sources said the ministry passed the order following the approval of the SC.
The court of Judge Mannan on Tuesday last ordered the authorities concerned to send former AL MP AKM Abdul Awal and his wife Laila Parvin to jail, rejecting their bail prayers in three corruption cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) last year.
The ex-MP of the Pirojpur-1 Constituency and President of the district AL, is accused in three cases filed for leasing khas (government) land using fake documents. His wife is accused in one case.
Judge Mannan passed the order when Awal and his wife appeared before it with bail prayers. Later, Awal and his wife got bail from another court in the district.
Joint District and Sessions Judge Nahid Nasrin, who has been given the responsibility of acting as District and Sessions Judge of Pirojpur, granted them bail after they moved a review petition, said Awal’s lawyer Shahidul Haque Khan Panna.
ACC Deputy Director Ali Akbar filed the cases with the commission’s integrated district office in Barishal on December 30 last year.
On January 7, Awal and his wife were granted ad-interim bail from the High Court. Later, the SC upheld the HC order after the anti-graft watchdog appealed for cancelling their bail.
Awal was MP from Pirojpur-1 for two consecutive terms in 2008 and 2014.
According to one case statement, the former lawmaker took lease of khas land using fake documents and built a three-storey building on it.
