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'Interference must stop'

Speakers stress independence of judiciary and coequal roles of three state organs

Staff Correspondent
Speakers at a symposium yesterday said upholding coequal roles of three state organs and independent functioning of the judiciary are required to serve justice to the disadvantaged.
Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs (Bilia) organised the symposium on "Twelve Years of Separation of Judiciary: Achievements and Challenges" at its auditorium in Dhanmondi.
Presenting a written paper, SM Masum Billah, associate professor of law at Jagannath University, said a major threat to independent judiciary emanates from the government.
In the judicial appointment process and its administrative function, the government plays a central role in influencing and tempting the process and the outcome, he alleged.
"Therefore, the protection is mainly against the executive," he added, presenting a paper on the topic -“Oil and Water Cannot Mix: The Separation of Powers in Bangladesh and the Masdar Hossain Legacy".
In 1995, Masdar Hossain along with many other judicial officers who were judges in different lower courts, filed a writ petition which later came to be known as the Masdar Hossain case.
In 1999, the Supreme Court delivered a landmark judgement in the case, laying out a roadmap to separate the judiciary from the executive. After a lapse of several years, the judiciary came out of the control of the executive on November 1, 2007.
At yesterday's symposium, Masum added, "It [the judiciary] must also be free from powerful nongovernmental interference.”
Addressing the discussion, Prof Mizanur Rahman of Dhaka University's law faculty said the judiciary has to be independent "to the extent it is enable to reflect the state's expectations".
At the same time, the state is the one that people achieved through the Liberation War and its expectation has to reflect the expectations of the people, predominantly the poor, said Prof Mizanur, also former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission.
Interference must
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"If the judiciary is not pro-poor then what am I going to do with its independence?"
Supreme Court lawyer Barrister Tania Amir said all the state organs must be co-equal. One organ should not control the other, she said, pointing towards the importance of separation of the judiciary from the executive. Separation of the judiciary is contemplated in the constitution itself, she added.
Retired bureaucrat Mokammel Hasan said demand for the judiciary's independence is not new. Such demand
continued for centuries and those who are progressive have won the battle, he added.
A superior nature of the rule of law could be established through ensuring coordinated relationships among the three state organs, said Kazi Arifuzzaman, joint secretary of the law ministry.
Chairing the symposium, noted jurist and Bilia Chairman Barrister M Amir-ul-Islam said they would organise similar programmes in future and encourage participation of young law practitioners.
Prof Rumana Islam, deputy director of research at Bilia, delivered welcome speech.