CJ reprimands attorney general for delay

The Supreme Court, yesterday, expressed dissatisfaction over the delay in issuing gazette notification for rules of conduct for judges in the lower courts and severely reprimanded the Attorney General over this issue. Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha told Attorney General Mahbubey Alam that given that the file related to the issue could not be transferred to Gonobhaban and Bangabhaban in two-and-half years, it would seem that these two locations are lakhs of kilometres apart and not inside the same metropolis. An eight-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Sinha, allowed one week's time to the government to issue the gazette notification.
The Attorney General had submitted an application to the apex court yesterday morning, seeking two weeks’ time for hearing on the case.
The Chief Justice asked the chief law officer of the state whether he had come with the gazette notification. When the Attorney General replied in the negative and sought two more weeks' time, the Chief Justice said “two weeks, two months and two years” seem to the same to the attorney general. The pattern of time application is also the same, the CJ said.
"Please tell us what you really want," the Chief Justice asked the Attorney General.
Chief Justice Sinha further said New York or Tokyo are the biggest cities in the world. Even there anyone can easily move from one place to another within four to five hours.
“But, Dhaka seems to have become the biggest city in the world as Gonobhaban and Bangabhaban seem lakhs of kilometres away from the Supreme Court,” the CJ quipped, reprimanding the delay.
Earlier, on April 4, the Apex Court had adjourned the hearing on the Masdar Hossain case, known as judiciary separation case, till yesterday. Prior to that, on March 28, the SC had granted the government an extension of one week to issue the gazette notification.
The December 2, 1999, verdict by the Appellate Division in the historic State vs Masdar Hossain case mandated the drafting of a 12-point set of guidelines on the separation of the judiciary from the executive.
Finally, the judiciary was officially separated in November 2007, but the disciplinary rules for lower court judges are yet to be finalised. For several years, the SC has issued multiple rulings, asking the government to issue a gazette notification on the finalised rules. The government had drafted the rules and sent those to the apex court, for its opinion, on May 7, 2015. On August 28 last year, the Appellate Division declared the government’s draft rules to be in contradiction to the verdict in the Masdar Hossain case because the draft was similar to the Government Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1985. After revising the draft rules, the SC had sent those to the law ministry and asked the government to issue a gazette notification by November 6. But, instead of issuing gazette notification, the government kept seeking more time from the court.

CJ reprimands attorney general for delay

The Supreme Court, yesterday, expressed dissatisfaction over the delay in issuing gazette notification for rules of conduct for judges in the lower courts and severely reprimanded the Attorney General over this issue. Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha told Attorney General Mahbubey Alam that given that the file related to the issue could not be transferred to Gonobhaban and Bangabhaban in two-and-half years, it would seem that these two locations are lakhs of kilometres apart and not inside the same metropolis. An eight-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Sinha, allowed one weeks time to the government to issue the gazette notification. The Attorney General had submitted an application to the apex court yesterday morning, seeking two weeks time for hearing on the case. The Chief Justice asked the chief law officer of the state whether he had come with the gazette notification. When the Attorney General replied in the negative and sought two more weeks time, the Chief Justice said two weeks, two months and two years seem to the same to the attorney general. The pattern of time application is also the same, the CJ said. Please tell us what you really want, the Chief Justice asked the Attorney General. Chief Justice Sinha further said New York or Tokyo are the biggest cities in the world. Even there anyone can easily move from one place to another within four to five hours. But, Dhaka seems to have become the biggest city in the world as Gonobhaban and Bangabhaban seem lakhs of kilometres away from the Supreme Court, the CJ quipped, reprimanding the delay. Earlier, on April 4, the Apex Court had adjourned the hearing on the Masdar Hossain case, known as judiciary separation case, till yesterday. Prior to that, on March 28, the SC had granted the government an extension of one week to issue the gazette notification. The December 2, 1999, verdict by the Appellate Division in the historic State vs Masdar Hossain case mandated the drafting of a 12-point set of guidelines on the separation of the judiciary from the executive. Finally, the judiciary was officially separated in November 2007, but the disciplinary rules for lower court judges are yet to be finalised. For several years, the SC has issued multiple rulings, asking the government to issue a gazette notification on the finalised rules. The government had drafted the rules and sent those to the apex court, for its opinion, on May 7, 2015. On August 28 last year, the Appellate Division declared the governments draft rules to be in contradiction to the verdict in the Masdar Hossain case because the draft was similar to the Government Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1985. After revising the draft rules, the SC had sent those to the law ministry and asked the government to issue a gazette notification by November 6. But, instead of issuing gazette notification, the government kept seeking more time from the court.