District judges to get secy status
SC releases full verdict on warrant of precedence
The Supreme Court yesterday released its full verdict directing the government to issue a new Warrant of Precedence by giving the district judges the same status as the government secretaries. The 62-page copy of the apex court full verdict said, In view of the foregoing discussions, observations and findings the appeal is disposed of and the eight-points directives issued by the High Court Division are hereby modified, and the impugned Warrant of Precedence being based on utter irrationality and arbitrariness is to be modified and amended in the following manner:
As the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, all constitutional functionaries shall be placed first in order of priority in the Table of the impugned Warrant of Precedence. It also said, Members of judicial service holding the posts of District Judges or equivalent posts of District Judges shall be placed at Serial No.16 in the Table along with the Secretaries to the Government and equivalent public servants in the service of the Republic.
The apex court verdict also said, Additional District Judges or holders of equivalent judicial posts shall be placed at the serial number 17 immediately after the District Judges. Now the government will issue a new gazette notification within the 60-day of receiving the copy of the apex court order, additional registrar of the Supreme Court (administration) told The Independent after releasing the copy of the order.
Earlier, on January 11 in 2015, the Appellate Division disposed of the appeal petition filed by the government challenging the HC order that declared the exiting Warrant of Precedence illegal. The five-member Appellate Division bench headed by the then Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain passed the order with expansion, modification, observation and finding.
In its full order, the apex court mentioned the Warrant of Precedence of the neighbouring countries of India, Pakistan and Srilanka and said, We feel constrained to observe that the Warrant of Precedence of the neighbouring countries include the holders of highest civil awards, however the impugned Warrant of Precedence of our country does not include such dignitaries, who are not constitutional or public functionaries. As such, it is expected that those dignitaries who have been honoured or decorated with civil awards, Shadhinata Padak, or Ekhushey Padak, and those valiant freedom fighters who have been honoured with gallantry awards of Bir Uttam should be included in the Table of the impugned Warrant of Precedence in such order as deemed appropriate, the verdict said. Existing Warrant of Precedence, formulated in 1986 and revised in 2008, ranks the Speaker of the parliament third, followed by the Chief Justice and former presidents of Bangladesh in fourth position and District judge are ranked at 24 position. Earlier in 2006, Md Ataur Rahman, a former secretary general of Bangladesh Judicial Service Association, also a district judge of the Tribunal for Prevention of Repression on Women and Children, in Patuakhali filed a writ petition on behalf of the association.
