Corrupt judges must be removed to keep judiciary free of graft: HC

The High Court in a full text of a verdict has observed that corrupt judges must be immediately removed in order to keep all other judges of the judiciary free from graft.

"Corruption free judiciary is one of the preconditions to rule of law," the HC said.

The HC bench of Justice Md Ashraful Kamal and Justice Razik-Al-Jalil made the observations in the 144-page full text of a verdict which was released on Thursday. 

The HC bench had delivered the judgement on December 11 last year following two separate writ petitions filed by the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, which challenged a verdict given by the First Court of Settlement of Dhaka on November 27, 1995.

Khandker Musa Khaled, Md Taha Mollah and Farid Uddin Aktar, the then judges of First Court of Settlement of Dhaka, had cancelled 16 kathas of land at Kakrail in Dhaka from the list of abandoned property and gave its ownership to four claimants -- KAM Ashraf Uddin (six katha), Lutfunnissa Rahman (four katha), AKM Idris Hossain and his wife Jamila Khatun (six katha) on different plots.

The HC in the full text of its verdict observed that the then First Court of Settlement of Dhaka led by Khandker Musa Khaled created precedent by handing over the property of the state and people worth crores to a gang of frauds without any documents and evidence.

The judiciary's dignity was damaged by this act, the HC judges said in the full text of the verdict.      

"When a gang of frauds witness that property worth Tk thousand crore can become theirs without any documents and evidence, then people get the message that the judiciary is for frauds, touts and affluent people not the general public," the HC judges said.

"Rule of law and judicial corruption cannot run alongside each other. If the judicial officers and staff members become corrupt, then rule of law will remain confined in books," the HC judges said in the full text of verdict.

The HC directed the authorities concerned to send a copy of this verdict to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for attracting her attention so that she can take initiatives in her capacity to protect abandoned properties of the state and people.