Rules for Judges: Govt gets one more week to issue gazette

The Supreme Court yesterday gave the government one more week for issuing a gazette notification on the discipline and code of conduct for the lower court judges.

The government has sought time extension on different occasions following which the court also gave time 22 times for issuing the notification.

The Appellate Division on July 2 gave the government a two-week ultimatum to that end.

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

The SC yesterday gave one more week in response to a petition moved by Attorney General Mahbubey Alam seeking the time for issuing the notification.

The attorney general moved the petition during hearing of Masdar Hossain case, popularly known as the judiciary separation case.

A six-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by the chief justice adjourned the hearing for one week.

Last week, Law Minister Anisul Huq met the chief justice at his SC office twice [July 16 and July 20] for finalising the rules and issuing the gazette, as the court on several occasions had expressed dissatisfaction at the government's failure to do so.

After the second meeting, the minister told reporters that there was significant progress  and expressed the hope that the notification would be issued within a week.

The judiciary was officially separated from the executive in November 2007, but the conduct rules for lower court judges have 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 light of the 1999 verdict in the judiciary separation case and asked the government to issue a gazette notification after finalising the rules.

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

The chief justice that day said they [judges] get hurt when the government refers to the president, who is respected and acceptable.

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

The attorney general the same day submitted an application to the SC, saying: “The Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs 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.

It came up with the observation a day after the law ministry issued a notification saying the president had decided not to issue a separate gazette notification on the conduct rules.