Staff Correspondent
The government will not appeal against the High Court verdict that ordered it to appoint 10 former additional judges of the High Court who were deprived of appointment as permanent judges between 2001 and 2003 during the BNP-led alliance government’s tenure.
Additional attorney general M Enayetur Rahim told the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Sunday that the government would not move the petition, filed by the erstwhile military-controlled interim government, seeking permission to appeal against, and stay order on, the High Court verdict.
The 4-member Appellate Division bench, headed by Chief Justice MM Ruhul Amin, however, posted for February 18 the hearing on the petition filed by the 10 former additional judges for revoking the stay order issued by the Appellate Division on July 29, 2008 on the High Court verdict.
The Appellate Division on July 29, 2008 stayed the High Court verdict after hearing petitions filed by the interim government and 19 High Court judges seeking permission to appeal against the verdict. The court had also asked the government to file a regular petition seeking permission to appeal against the verdict.
The ten former additional judges filed the petition on January 29 and the Appellate Division’s chamber judge, Justice Tafazzul Islam, fixed Sunday for hearing the petition.
As the petition came up for hearing on Sunday, the additional attorney general told the court that the government was not interested in appealing against the verdict.
Former attorney general Mahmudul Islam and Kamal Hossain and M Amirul Islam pleaded for the ten former additional judges and said that the stay order should be revoked or reviewed by the Appellate Division soon as the 10 former additional judges were wrongfully deprived of appointment as permanent judges.
TH Khan appeared for the 19 sitting High Court judges who had filed a petition seeking permission to appeal against the High Court verdict.
When he was asked whether the government would file an application for withdrawing the petition filed by the erstwhile interim government against the verdict, Enayet told reporters, ‘A verbal mention is enough to withdraw an appeal.’
The government does not want to appeal against the verdict as the 10 former additional judges were victimised on political considerations, he said.
A special High Court bench of Justice MA Rashid, Justice SK Sinha and Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana delivered the verdict on July 17, 2008 after a long hearing of the writ petitions challenging the non-appointment of the ten additional judges as permanent judges of the High Court.
In the verdict, the court declared unconstitutional the president’s refusal to appoint the additional judges as permanent judges, ignoring the recommendations made by the chief justice in this regard.
The court ordered the government to appoint M Abdus Salam, Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed, M Abdul Hye, Faruque Ahmed, M Marzi-ul-Huq, Shamsul Huda Manik, M Abdur Razzak, Hasan Faiz Siddique, AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik and M Nizamul Huq Nasim as permanent judges of the High Court within a month.
The seniority of the 10 judges will be counted from the date of their joining the High Court as additional judges, and the period between the dates they were dropped and the date of their joining as permanent judges will be considered to be special leave without pay, said the court in its verdict.
Of the 40 additional judges appointed during the Awami League government’s tenure, 15 did not get permanent appointment in 2002 and 2003 during the alliance government’s tenure although 14 of them were recommended by the chief justice for permanent appointment.
Although 14 of the 15 additional judges who were dropped were recommended by the chief justice for permanent appointment, the High Court ordered the appointment of 10 as the other four did not file any petition seeking redress.
Courtesy: newagebd.com
