Gulam Rabbani :
Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain will go on retirement on December 30 this year after completion of his 67 years, the age boundary of a Supreme Court judge.
Now it is a common question in the Supreme Court and other judiciary related areas about who is going to be the next Chief Justice of the country?
Another question is also arising on the lips of the people in the Supreme Court whether the appointment will be given on the basis of seniority or whether it will be done by supersede (violation of seniority).
There are instances of appointing Chief Justice ignoring seniority, since there is no clear instruction in the Constitution to follow seniority in appointing Chief Justice.
Legal experts say the Chief Justice should be appointed on the basis of seniority in order to maintain the discipline in the judiciary.
According to seniority, Justice Muhammad Imman Ali is on the top of the list for appointment as Chief Justice. Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, Justice Md Nuruzzaman and Justice Obaidul Hassan are in the next positions consecutively as per seniority.
One of them will be the 23rd Chief Justice of Bangladesh.
According to the Article 96(1) of the Constitution, “Subject to the other provisions of this article, a Judge shall hold office until he attains the age of sixty-seven years.” As per the Article present Chief Justice will complete his 67 on December 30 and that will be his last working day.
The annual vacation of the Supreme Court will be observed from December 19 to 30. In that sense December 15 will be his last working day.
The President will appoint the Chief Justice. According to the Article 95 of the Constitution, “The Chief Justice shall be appointed by the President, and the other Judges shall be appointed by the President after consultation with the Chief Justice.”
However, no more detail in the Constitution over the issue.
Attorney General AM Amin Uddin said, “The Constitution empowers the President to appoint the Chief Justice. The President usually appoints any one of the judges of the Appellate Division as the Chief Justice. And there is no bar to practice this.”
Barrister Ruhul Quddus Kazal, Secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), said, “We always demand appointment of Chief Justice on the basis of seniority. In the absence of the Chief Justice, the most senior judge acts as the Chief Justice. If the seniority policy is violated in appointing the Chief Justice, he (most senior judge) becomes subordinated to a junior judge, which is not fair.”
Therefore, we want the seniority policy to be followed in case of elevation of the judges to the Appellate Division and also in case of appointment of the Chief Justice, added the SCBA Secretary.
The President appointed Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah as the Acting Chief Justice after the resignation of former Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha.
Later the President finalized the appointment of Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain as the Chief Justice when Justice Abdul Wahhab Miah was holding the post of Acting Chief Justice. In the evening of that appointing date, February 2 in 2018, Justice Wahhab Miah resigned, though he had 10 months more to fulfill his tenure.
