Plan to appoint 13 judges to SC

The government will appoint at least three judges to the Appellate Division and 10 judges to the High Court (HC) Division of the Supreme Court (SC) by June this year as a number of judges of both the divisions will retire this year and next year.
The present government appointed 11 judges to the HC Division and two judges to the Appellate Division.
There are seven judges for the Appellate Division and 74 for the HC Division at present, sources said.
Law Minister Shafique Ahmed on May 19 told The Daily Star that his ministry had already started the process of appointing some new judges to the Appellate Division and the HC Division of the apex court.
The office rooms in the SC building and other logistic supports for the new judges will have to be ensured in consultation with the Chief Justice before their recruitments, he said.
The process of recruitment of judges might be completed by the end of June, he added.
The minister also said the government is sincere in appointing new judges to the SC to ensure fair dispensation of justice and also to reduce the huge backlog of cases at this court.
Some judges of the HC Division have already retired this year and so will some more of the Appellate and HC Divisions this year and next year, he added.
Sources said Chief Justice MM Ruhul Amin would retire on December 23 this year.
Besides four judges of the Appellate Division — justices Md Tafazzal Islam, Md Joynul Abedin, MA Matin and Md Abdul Aziz will also retire by the end of next year.
Two judges of the HC — justices MA Rashid and Khadedmul Islam Chowdhury have retired this year and two judges of the HC Division justices Shah Abu Nayeemn Mominur Rahman and Md Abdul Aziz have been elevated to the Appellate Division this year.
The present government reappointed 10 HC judges whose jobs were not confirmed during the BNP-Jamaat government despite the chief justice’s recommendations in March this year. They were appointed as per the SC guidelines.
The judges are Md Abdus Salam, Md Mamtazuddin Ahmed, Md Shamsul Huda, Faruque Ahmed, Hasan Foez Siddique, Md Abdul Hye, Md Abdur Razzaque, Mohammad Marzi-ul Huq, Mohammad Nizamul Huq and AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury.
Md Bazlur Rahman Chhana, a former additional judge of the HC whose job was not confirmed by the previous BNP-Jamaat-led four-party alliance government, was reappointed as a regular judge to the HC in May this year.

Courtesy of The Daily Star