The Supreme Court on Thursday sent a proposal to the Law Ministry to constitute a 'Judicial Appointment Council' headed by Chief Justice in order to select candidates for appointing new High Court judges.
"It proposes the formation of a Judicial Appointment Council headed by the Chief Justice of Bangladesh. The Council will make such recommendations after receiving a request from the President to select suitable persons for appointment as judges of the Supreme Court," according to the proposal sent by the Supreme Court's Registrar General Office to the Law Ministry.
The proposal mentioned that many countries of the world, including England, Ireland, Kenya, Malaysia and South Africa have independent and impartial commissions for the appointment of HC judges.
Before finalising and sending the proposal, the Supreme Court took the opinions of 15 HC judges in this regard, sources said.
Before giving any new appointment, the Judicial Appointment Council will issue a public notice inviting applications from candidates for recommendations for appointment of the High Court judges.
The council can invite any person concerned to the council meeting seeking their opinions or suggestions regarding the candidates. The council can also instruct any government or private institutions to give the detailed information about the candidates in line with the council requirement, according to the proposal.
"If the council is formed, transparency and accountability will be ensured in the appointment of judges of the Bangladesh Supreme Court," the proposal said.
In the judicial conference, Chief Justice Dr Syed Refaat Ahmed had on September 12 presented a complete roadmap to establish the rule of law and ensure justice in the country in front of the judges of both divisions of the Supreme Court and the judges working in the district courts across the country, outlining the judicial reforms.
In that, special importance was given to the formulation of laws for the appointment of judges of the country's high courts, the statement said.
It said in continuation of that, the SC had sent the proposal to the Law Ministry after conducting a detailed study on the laws, rules, regulations, decisions in the High Court and other issues related to appointment of judges in different countries of the world.
The move may end up cutting the absolute power of the prime minister to appoint anyone as judge to the apex court, which has been used to retain control over the judiciary.
According to the Constitution, the President shall act in accordance with the advice of the prime minister in the exercise of all his functions, save only that of appointing the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice.
Earlier, following the appointment of the new Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, the Supreme Court also sent a proposal to set up a separate secretariat at the Supreme Court.
