The government yesterday prayed to the Supreme Court (SO for withdrawal of the pending appeals filed by the Fakruddin-led caretaker government against the High Court (HC) judgment that directed the government to reappoint 10 additional judges with seniority.

The jobs of 10 additional judges were not confirmed during the rule of the BNP-Jamaat coalition government.

During the hearing of a petition jointly filed by 10 unconfirmed HC judges for vacating the SC order that had stayed the HC verdict, Additional Attorney General (AAG) M Enayetur Rahim yesterday told the apex court that the government had instructed the AAG's office not to proceed with the appeals.

The four-member full bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice MM Ruhul Amin fixed February 18 for hearing the appeals and the petition.

Enayetur Rahim, also acting Attorney General (AG), told The Daily Star that the 10 HC judges were deprived, as the BNP-Jamaat alliance government did not confirm their services.

He said a total of four appeals filed by the caretaker government and some HC judges against the HC verdict have been pending with the SC.

If the High Court verdict remains valid after the legal battle at the SC, there will not be any legal bar in the way of reinstating the deprived judges, he said.

On July 29, last year, the SC upon separate petitions filed by the government and 19 HC judges stayed the HC judgment and asked the petitioners to file regular appeals with the SC against the HC judg-

ment.

The unconfirmed judges recently filed a petition with the SC to vacate its stay order.

Dr Kamal Hossain appeared for the unconfirmed judges while advocate TH Khan stood for the appellant judges.