CJ's Remarks

THE newly-inducted chief justice of Bangladesh, Latifur Rahman, sees the role of the judiciary at this critical juncture to be that of a safety-valve for democracy. The prevailing atmosphere being rather incongenial to the functioning or growth of democracy, the judiciary's constitutional obligations on this behalf have acquired a special relevance.

At a reception given to him by the attorney general and the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association on Sunday the new CJ made the above point very convincingly. He argued that successful working of democracy would be illusive without the demonstration of tolerance of each other's views and respect for dissent across the board. And the precondition to the existence of such a tolerant society is justice. It is the duty of the judiciary to ensure fair play and thereby act as safeguard for democracy.

There cannot be any second opinion about the CJ's affirmation that constitutionally the highest court is entitled to making a judicial review of the administration's activities relating to civic freedoms and protection of lives and properties of citizens. Obviously in order to exercise that jurisdiction, the judicial organ of the state will have to be separated from the executive organ so that the former can act independent of any executive control, covert or overt.

As for the interpretative jurisdiction of the highest judiciary over constitutional points or civil rights issues brought before it for adjudication, the new CJ has made a very cogent observation. He maintains that just as the judiciary has no right to eschew the exercise of the jurisdiction vested in it by the Constitution so also it has no right to be doing what is not permissible in terms of the Constitution. Overstepping any of these two limitations would amount to violation of the Constitution itself.

The chief justice seems quite alive to the question of quickening the process of delivering justice and has seen it as a matter of 'collective responsibility' encompassing the court, the police, and the prosecution and defence lawyers.

We have observed with great anxiety that a certain deterioration has lately taken place in the relations between the judiciary and the executive. Some top leaders in the government, including the prime minister, have expressed occasional reservations about the judiciary which bore testimony to a none-too healthy working relation between the two organs of the state. We suggest an early dialogue between the two sides to set things right.