HC judge feels embarrassed

One of a two-member High Court (HC) bench today felt embarrassed to pass an order on a writ petition seeking directives upon the government to appoint ABM Altaf Hossain as a regular judge of the HC.

The government last month regularised services of five additional HC judges leaving out the name of Justice Altaf, who was appointed as an additional judge in June 2012 along with the others. The government did not mention any reason for the decision.

Altaf filed the writ petition with the HC on Tuesday saying that the government should appoint him as a regular judge as per recommendation of the chief justice.

The HC bench of Justice Sheikh Hasan Arif and Justice Abu Taher Md Saifur Rahman yesterday held a hearing on the petition and fixed today for passing an order.

When today’s procedure began today, Justice Sheikh Hasan Arif said, “One of us has felt embarrassed to pass order on the petition”.

He however did not mention the name of the judge who felt embarrassed and the reason for the embarrassment.

Writ petitioner's lawyer Salahuddin Dolon told The Daily Star that the bench will now send the petition along with the embarrassment order to the chief justice.

Then, Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain will assign another HC bench for hearing and disposing of the petition, the lawyer said.