ASHUTOSH SARKAR

The High Court has observed that the establishment of an independent and separate secretariat under the Supreme Court is necessary to ensure the judiciary’s autonomy and integrity.

The observation came in the full text of a verdict released yesterday amid a move in parliament to repeal three ordinances related to judicial independence, appointment of judges, and budgetary authority entrusted to the Supreme Court Secretariat.

In the full verdict, the court also directed the government to establish the secretariat within three months and ruled that the Supreme Court, not the president, will have the authority over the transfer, posting, and discipline of lower court judges.

“We believe that the proposed secretariat would enhance transparency in judicial policymaking, ensure proper budget allocation and infrastructure development, and bring clarity to the transfer and promotion of judges,” the High Court bench of Justice Ahmed Sohel and Justice Debashish Roy Chowdhury said in the 185-page full judgment.

During the hearing of a writ petition on the matter, the then attorney general Md Asaduzzaman, who is now the law, justice and parliamentary affairs minister, “has fairly submitted [before this court] that the state has no objection to the establishment of such a secretariat”, the High Court said.

“In our view that true judicial independence requires abolition of the dual governance system i.e. the joint authority of the Supreme Court and the ministry of law must be dismantled to facilitate a separate secretariat under the Supreme Court of Bangladesh,” the judges said.

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