The government has started the process for enacting a new law to implement the proposed 16th amendment to the Constitution that will empower Parliament to impeach Supreme Court judges.
The Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs is drafting the law titled as “The Judges Enquiry Act 2014” that would also make the end of the existing mechanism of the Supreme Judicial Council to impeach Supreme Court judges, official sources said on Thursday.
“We are drafting ‘The Judges Enquiry Act 2014’ in a way so that the Bill of the law could be tabled in the forthcoming session of Parliament.
“The 16th amendment to the Constitution, which will bring back the original Article 96 of the 1972 Constitution, could not be implemented without enacting the proposed law,” he said.
The law will be applied in case of impeaching the Chairman and members of the Law Commission, members of Election Commission, including Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), the Auditor and
Comptroller General, Chairman and members of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Chairman and members of the Public Service Commission, members and Chairman of the Human Rights Commission, members of Information Commission, including the Chief Information Commissioner and the Attorney General.
“All officials of the Republic, who enjoy facilities of the Supreme Court judges as per Articles 118 (6) and 12 (2) or 139 (2) of the Constitution will come under purview of the Judges Enquiry Act 2014,” an official close to drafting wing of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs said.
Meanwhile, the Law Commission has sent a set of recommendations, including the formation of a committee headed by the Chief Justice to appoint skilled and qualified persons as Supreme Court judges, to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs.
The Law Commission, in its recommendations said, “A person bellow the age of 50 years could not be appointed as Supreme Court judge and a candidate for the position must have 20 years of experience as a lawyer of the Supreme Court or 20 years working experience in judicial service with at least three years as a district judge.”
However, the Commission suggested that the age (50 years) age bar and 20 years’ working experience precondition would only be effective for the case of new recruitment of Supreme Court judges.
The Law Commission has recommended that the retirement age of the Supreme Court Judges should be increased to 75 years of age.
It may be mentioned here that a massive national outcry, including a massive anti-government movement, was generated when the immediate-past BNP government increased the retirement age of the of Supreme Court judges to 67 years in 2007 to facilitate the appointment of the then Chief Justice Mahmud Hassan as Chief of the Caretaker government to conduct general elections.
