The Supreme Court (SC) has decided to relax for one year a specific condition relating to the promotion of additional district judges on apprehension that lower courts might face a paucity of district judges in the near future. The law ministry, however, has requested the apex court to reconsider its decision, saying that a sufficient number of additional district judges tick all the boxes of the service rules needed for the promotion.
The SC, in a full court meeting held in early September, decided to relax the provision for 2-year mandatory judicial experience as additional district judge for their promotion.
According to Section 4 (1) of the Bangladesh Judicial Service Rules, additional district judges must complete a service period of 15 years, including two years' judicial experience as additional district judge, to be promoted to the post of district judges. At the September meeting attended by judges of the Appellate Division and the High Court (HC) Division, it was decided that additional district judges having 15 years of service record, including two years' experience as additional district judge or in equivalent posts and six months' judicial experience as additional district judge can be promoted to the position of district judges.
The meeting also decided to keep the relaxed service rules in force for one year, saying that the district judges promoted during this period will able to carry out the judicial functions properly, and that the ‘possible’ scarcity of district judges will be overcome through the decision. Subsequently, the apex court on September 20 sent a letter to the law ministry, requesting it to issue a gazette notification about relaxing the condition relating to the promotion of additional judges for the next one year in compliance with the decision of the full meeting.
According to the SC letter, at least 30 posts of district judges are currently lying vacant. Nineteen district judges will go into retirement by this year, while 24 others will retire by 2017. Besides, the creation of 41 district judge posts for the Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal is now at the final stage. Hence, a total of 114 posts of district judge will be vacant by 2017.
The letter also mentioned that a total of 148 additional district judges have been included in a panel for being promoted to the rank of district judge. But many of them do not have the requisite two years of judicial experience as additional district judge as they are working in the administrative section in the judiciary. It will not be possible to promote them in accordance with the current rules due to their lack of judicial experience.
“As a result, many posts of the district judges will continue to remain vacant in the near future,” according to the apex court letter.
Law Minister Anisul Huq told The Independent recently that he has sent a letter to the SC, requesting it to reconsider the decision as there are many experienced additional judges who can be promoted to the post of district judges even if the provision is not relaxed. “I’ve requested the SC to reconsider its decision considering the importance of qualified judges,” he added. If the condition attached to two years’ judicial experience as additional district judge is indeed relaxed, the quality of judges is likely to fall, the minister apprehended.
Law ministry sources said more than 150 additional judges, who have completed 15 years of service period along with two years of judicial experiences as additional district judges, have been working at various places across the country. There will be no paucity of district judges in lower courts in the future if the government decides to promote them in compliance with the rules, the sources added.