Lower Court Judges: Govt submits draft rules to chief justice

Law Minister Anisul Huq yesterday submitted the draft of the rules determining the discipline and code of conduct for the lower court judges to Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha.

He handed over the draft to the chief justice after meeting him at his Supreme Court office in the afternoon.

"I have submitted the draft of finalised rules to him [chief justice]. Now, he will examine the rules. If he consents to the rules after scrutinising, it [rules] will be sent to the president for approval for issuing a gazette notification to this effect,” the law minister told The Daily Star yesterday.

The minister, however, refused to disclose the content of the draft rules.      

The judiciary was officially separated from the executive in November 2007, but the conduct rules for lower court judges are yet to be finalised.

The government drafted the conduct rules and sent those to the SC for its opinion around two years ago. The apex court revised the draft in the light of the 1999 verdict in the Masdar Hossain Case, popularly known as the judiciary separation case.

During hearing the case, the SC several times ordered the government to issue a gazette notification after finalising the rules.

On several occasions, it had expressed dissatisfaction with the government's failure to do so.

The government has taken 22 times from the apex court for issuing the gazette notification.  

On July 23, the Appellate Division of the SC gave the government one more week for issuing the gazette notification although on July 2, it gave the government a two-week ultimatum to that end.

"It's the last chance,” Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha said on July 2 as he was presiding over a seven-member bench of the apex court during hearing the issue.

During a hearing on the Masdar Hossain case on April 4, the SC expressed dissatisfaction with non-issuance of the gazette notification.

On that day, the chief justice said they (judges) are hurt when the government refers to the president, who is respected and acceptable.

On March 28, the SC expressed discontent at the government for seeking more time for issuing the gazette notification.

The same day, the attorney general submitted an application to the SC, saying: “The law, justice and parliamentary affairs ministry expects that necessary steps will be taken by the honourable president in respect of the proposed rules within four weeks.”

On December 12 last year, the SC said the president was misinformed about the issuance of the gazette notification, as the law ministry the previous day issued a notification, saying that the president had decided not to issue a separate gazette notification on the conduct rules.