Tension raised with the Supreme Court over service rules is wholly unnecessary and can be forgotten

THE reported fall out between the Chief Justice and the Attorney General over a government gazette notification concerning guidelines on service rules for lower court judges merits the question – why should it cause such intense disagreement when there are, in fact so many national important legal issues to be dealt with. Latest news reports suggest – the Chief Justice has granted the Attorney General a couple of weeks more for issuing and circulating the said gazette and at the same time reportedly accused the State for taking the judiciary hostage in this regard.
 
Every time fresh prayer for time is made reference is made to the President. The Chief Justice expressed himself in clear terms against using President’s name for the delay.

The matter is so small that many people will simply are baffled for understanding the true intension. Our understanding is that the Law Ministry thinks no gazette notification is necessary for service rules of the lower judiciary. On the other hand the Supreme Court is in support of such a gazette notification.

To cut a long story short, on Dec 8 last year, the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division had summoned two secretaries of the Law Ministry over the repeated failure of the government to issue the gazette notification. This came after amending the rules of conduct and disciplinary rules for judicial officers in line with the verdict of the Masdar Hossain Case, separating the Judiciary from the Executive. Three days later, on Dec 11, a notice posted on the Law Ministry’s website said the President had instructed the Ministry not to issue the gazette, claiming it was unnecessary.

We do not believe that the President Abdul Hamid who was a practicing lawyer himself will like to tangle with the highest court on such a trivial matter connected with law. It is clear he has no objection about the rules being implemented. Whether the rule should be gazetted or not should best be left to the decision of the Supreme Court. Such an embarrassing situation involving the President and the Supreme Court is really a shame.

We have reasons to believe that this is an internal clique of the few in the government, neither the President nor the Prime Minister should endorse such egoistic move harming the image of the government as being arrogant against the judiciary.

It is our humble suggestion that the Supreme Court does not need to appear helpless. Whether the said rules have the force of law will be decided not by the Law Minister, but the Supreme Court itself. The court should stand on its position strongly in the defence of the people’s rights and fair justice. Our fear is real challenge is brewing up in this area.