Judge Removal: SC won't accept law as relevant case pending

The Supreme Court will not welcome the proposed law that seeks to make disciplinary rules for removing its judges for incapacity or misconduct, as the draft of the law was prepared when a relevant case was pending before the High Court, the apex court said yesterday.   

The entire judiciary is operating without any control, as there are no disciplinary rules for lower court judges and no law for taking measures against HC judges for violating discipline, it said.

There should be specific disciplinary rules for all professionals, it noted.

The top court made the observations while dealing with a petition by Attorney General Mahbubey Alam for adjournment of hearing on a government appeal against the HC verdict that scrapped the 16th amendment to the constitution.

The amendment, passed in September 2014, empowered parliament to remove SC judges for incapacity or misconduct.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha yesterday fixed February 8 for hearing the government appeal.

The SC said in the past it scrapped the fifth, eighth and 13th amendments to the constitution, as those were in conflict with the basic structures of the charter.

Independence of the judiciary is a pillar of the constitution and it cannot be changed, but the government has done this anyway, it added.

The apex court also noted that the person responsible for bridging the judiciary and the executive branch “says one thing here and another thing at the cabinet meeting and in parliament.”

The court did not mention any name, but it is the law minister who normally acts as the “bridge” the SC referred to.

The attorney general told the court that the government needed time for moving an appeal against the HC verdict.

But he admitted that opinions of the SC judges should have been sought before drafting the law, as they are also stakeholders in the matter.

The cabinet approved the draft on April 18 last year.

On May 5 last year, the HC declared the 16th amendment to the constitution illegal, but allowed the government to appeal against it before the SC.

The government filed the appeal on January 4 this year.

The attorney general said that while dealing with this appeal, the SC would be judging its judges, as the appeal is related with the judges.

The top court can examine the law, but not the Jatiya Sangsad, he told the court.