No new law needed

The government did not need to formulate a law regarding the salaries and other benefits of the lower court judges, as the Supreme Court had already directed for raising their allowances, three senior legal experts told the SC yesterday.
Dr Kamal Hossain, Rafique-ul Huq and AF Hasan Ariff were placing arguments as amici curiae (friends of court) before the Appellate Division of SC during its hearing on the Masdar Hossain Case, popularly known as judiciary separation case.
On April 16, the government submitted a time petition to the apex court, saying that the government was planning to formulate a law in this regard.
Yesterday, the 10-member bench of the division headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain fixed today for hearing arguments from five other amici curiae -- TH Khan, Mahmudul Islam, Dr M Zahir, Rokanuddin Mahmud and Tawfique Newaz -- on this issue.
On March 14, the SC had directed the government to increase the pay scale of the judicial officials by 30 percent instead of 20 percent proposed by the government by April 15.
Earlier, the SC expressed annoyance with the government through Attorney General Mahbubey Alam for its delay in rising the salaries and benefits.
In 2008, the Judicial Service Pay Commission had recommended providing lower court judges additional allowances equivalent to their basic monthly salaries and increasing other amenities.