Supreme Judicial Commission
The decision by the government to set in motion a Supreme Judicial Commission certainly promises to bring about some fundamental and welcome changes in the way judges to the higher judiciary have been appointed so far. Under the terms of the proposed measure, the nine-member commission, headed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, will recommend the appointment of judges to the High Court and Appellate Divisions, which appointments will take effect once they receive the approval of the President. That will be quite a sea change, seeing that though the recommendations will be placed before the President through the office of the Prime Minister, the head of government or the party in power will not any more possess the authority to in-fluence such appointments.
It is a development that will provide added impetus to the principle of judicial independence in Bangladesh, given the sordid experience we have so long had of poli-tics coming in the way of a proper functioning of the judicial system. Indeed, the record of the past many years has been dismal, to say the least. The last BNP-led alliance government clearly landed some of the most grievous of blows to the judiciary by appointing judges in a partisan manner. Just how damaging the process turned out to be was when the nation found itself confronting such issues as judges with a controversial academic background gracing the benches of the High Court. The appointment of judges on political considerations had a whole lot to do with the prerogative the Prime Minister exercised in making the appointments, with the President merely expected to approve the appointments. The convention of consulting the Chief Justice was thrown to the four winds.
The coming into being of the Supreme Judicial Com-mission should go a long way towards ending such pa-rochial attitudes in the matter of appointments to the higher judiciary. With authority for recommending panels of judges for appointment vesting in the com-mission, it is patently a significant improvement on the practice having been followed in the past. In point of fact, the constitution of the commission, evenly balanced as it is through a presence of luminaries from the government and those outside it, will considerably reinforce the principle of judicial independence that has been in place since November last year. Overall, it will be a shot in the arm for democracy and rule of law in Bangladesh.
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