Release full text of SC verdicts in 6 months

The Judiciary Reform Commission has proposed new provisions requiring the full text verdict of Supreme Court judgements to be signed and released within six months of the delivery of a verdict.

It also recommends barring judges from signing verdicts or orders after retirement.

Currently, there is no such provision. This led to controversies, such as former Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque and his colleagues signing the judgement on the caretaker government case 16 months after its delivery, in September 2012, after his retirement.

Similarly, in February 2016, former Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik, now in jail, submitted 65 judgements and orders written after his retirement as an Appellate Division judge, sparking widespread debate.

The commission's 351-page final report, submitted to Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus on February 5, says, "A Supreme Court judgement must be signed and published within six months of its announcement. Judges must finalise and sign all orders and judgements before retirement. No judge, including the chief justice, should sign any judgement or order after retirement. If these time limits are not met, the judge will be held accountable by the Supreme Judicial Council."

The commission proposes amending High Court rules to ensure that initial orders in any case of the High Court Division must be signed and published within five working days after the declaration. It also proposed that interim orders must be signed and published within 10 working days after the announcement.

The judiciary reform body in its report also suggested decentralising the judiciary by establishing permanent HC benches in divisional cities and courts at the upazila level, limiting the president's power to pardon convicts, restricting mobile courts to imposing only financial penalties, and creating an independent criminal investigation agency.

Other significant proposals include appointing the most senior Appellate Division judge as chief justice, fixing the number of Supreme Court judges at seven, raising the retirement age of judges to 70, and requiring judges to disclose their property details online every three years to ensure transparency.