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SC Judge Appointment Criteria

JS body for passage of bill in next session

Staff Correspondent
A parliamentary body yesterday decided to recommend passage of a bill setting criteria for appointment as Supreme Court judges in efforts to stop politicisation of the process.
The parliamentary standing committee on the private members' bills and resolutions took the decision after scrutinising the bill placed in parliament by a Jatiya Party lawmaker in July last year.
"We will place our report in the upcoming parliamentary session recommending passage of the
bill," Abdul Matin Khasru, chief of the parliamentary body, told The Daily Star yesterday.
The Jatiya Sangsad goes into session tomorrow.
He said if the House passed the bill, it would be possible to free the appointment of Supreme Court judges from controversy over politicisation.
The proposed legislation seeks to curtail the government's absolute authority in appointing judges to the SC.
It proposed forming a Superior Judicial Commission led by the chief justice to recommend
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names to the president for appointment as judges of the High Court Division as well as the Appellate Division of the SC.
The judicial commission, as the bill has proposed, will be comprised of one senior judge each from the Appellate Division and the HC division, Public Sendee Commission chairman, attorney general and president of the Supreme Court Bar Association.
The bill proposed including a lawmaker nominated by the Speaker in the judicial commission. But the parliamentary body rejected the proposal and opted for replacing the legislator by the chief of the Law Commission to make the appointment process more credible.
"The government may influence the appointment process if there is a lawmaker in the Superior Judicial Commission. So the commit-
tee opted for dropping the MP from the commission," said Jatiya Party lawmaker Mujibul Haq, who piloted the bill.
Under the proposed legislation, the commission will pick competent individuals for appointment as judges to the HC Division and will also determine the number of SC judges considering the number of pending cases and other aspects.
The president, if required, will have the authority to reject or override any recommendation by the commission.
According to the current constitutional provision, a person shall be qualified for such appointment if he or she has been an advocate of the SC or has held a judicial office for at least 10 years.
The constitution also provides for "other qualifications" to be prescribed by law. But none of the successive governments has moved to enact a law prescribing these
criteria.
Legal experts said the current criteria allowed successive governments to pick persons loyal to them as SC judges without scrutinising their (candidates) academic qualifications, professional ability, goodwill and honesty.
In the wake of the prevailing situation, the proposed legislation also seeks to specify some other qualifications for individuals willing to get appointed as SC judges.
Mujibul, who was present at yesterday's meeting on a special invitation, said after the committee's recommendation the House would decide whether it would pass the bill or not.
"The consent of the leader of the House, who is also the prime minister, is very important. Upon the consent of the leader of the House, the Speaker will include the bill in the day's business for passage," he added.