Legal notice pulls up govt on shortage of judges
Staff Reporter
A Supreme Court (SC) advocate yesterday sent a legal notice to the government, asking it to appoint the Chief Justice and more judges for the Appellate and High Court Divisions of the apex court from among lawyers within 72 hours. The notice came in the backdrop of an acute crisis of judges in the SC that has led to a huge pile of pending cases. Advocate Eunus Ali Akond, who sent the notice, told The Independent that he would file a writ petition with the High Court seeking necessary directives, if the government failed to appoint the CJ and judges within the deadline. In the notice, Akond said the President used to appoint more than 80 per cent of the judges of the HC Division from practising lawyers in the Supreme Court. But 100 per cent of the Appellate Division judges were appointed from among HC judges, which violated the principles of natural justice. Even the Constitution has no provision to promote HC judges, he added. The notice also mentions that SC judges are appointed from among lawyers in India, Pakistan and the US.
The law secretary, Cabinet secretary, Presidents secretary, Prime Ministers Office secretary, SC registrar general and the Bangladesh Bar Council chairman were made respondents in the notice.
According to SC sources, a total of 466,898 cases were pending disposal in the HC Division till October 31. On the other hand, the Appellate Division had a backlog of 15,062 cases till September 30.
The sources said the number of judges at the Appellate Division has dropped to five from 11 after the resignation of former chief justice SK Sinha, who sent his resignation from abroad on November 11. At present, the senior most judge of the Appellate Division, Justice Abdul Wahhab Miah, is discharging the responsibility of the Chief Justice. The HC has also been facing a shortage of judges following the retirement and death of some judges. The number of HC judges now stands at 83, down from 100 in June 2012.
