Law within 3 months
The government is likely to enact in three months a law determining the procedure for removal of Supreme Court judges on grounds of incapacity and misbehaviour, Law Minister Anisul Huq yesterday said.
“Formulation of any law is a continuous process and I have already begun the procedure for holding discussions about a law [regarding the impeachment of judges],” he said, while talking to reporters after attending a programme on reform of the judiciary and prevention of corruption at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital.
As the cabinet on August 18 approved a proposal for the constitutional amendment aimed at empowering parliament to impeach judges, the law minister said a law involving the matter might be formulated in three months.
After over a month, he again said yesterday it would take about three months to formulate such a law.
He, however, said he could not say exactly how much time would be needed for the purpose.
President Abdul Hamid on Monday gave his assent to the 16th amendment bill passed in parliament on September 17 amid widespread criticism.
With the president signing the bill, the chief justice-led Supreme Judicial Council system that was in place for 35 years to impeach SC judges ceases to exist.
Anisul Huq told reporters if he announced that a bill on the law would be passed in the next parliament session, critics would say all arrangements had already been made for enacting the law and that he was holding discussions only to fool people.
“In fact, we [the government] are very open, and so I have taken three months' time. I will try to formulate the law within the period.”
Earlier, the law minister at the programme said the number of policemen in the country was very less in proportion to the population. The issue will be brought to the prime minister's knowledge for necessary steps, he added.
Law Commission Chairman and former chief justice ABM Khairul Haque also spoke at the discussion organised by the law ministry.
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