Army officer 'takes care' of SC cause list
Barrister Rafique-ul Huq, principal counsel of former premiers Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, has alleged that a junior army officer "takes care" of the cause list for hearing of petitions by the chamber judge of Supreme Court.
”An army major sits in a room on the second floor of the Supreme Court building where no one is allowed to enter. This major takes care of the cause list for hearing of petitions by the chamber judge," Barrister Rafique told a meeting of SC lawyers yesterday.
"Nothing can be so unfortunate other than this," he said at the urgent meeting of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) in its South Hall.
The meeting was convened in protest against Saturday's bomb blast at the residence of Justice Sharif Uddin Chaklader and reconstitution of the HC benches by the chief justice allegedly sidelining senior judges.
Meanwhile, anonymous letters were sent on Saturday to three senior SC lawyers -- Barrister Rafique-ul Huq, Barrister Shafique Ahmed and Barrister M Amir-Ul Islam.
The letters addressed the senior lawyers as "national betrayers" for defending persons accused in different graft cases.
"An unknown person gave the letter bearing no name or address of the sender to the guard of my residence yesterday," Barrister Shafique Ahmed, also the president of SCBA, told newspersons.
At yesterday's meeting, Barrister Rafique said he did not expect such reconstitution of the HC benches by the chief justice.
"The chief justice is a very rational and prudent judge. I am sure the chief justice is not aware of this reconstitution of the High Court benches," he said.
He added SCBA leaders should take immediate steps against the latest reconstitution to uphold the image and dignity of the highest judiciary.
Barrister Rafique also urged the chief justice to reconstitute the HC benches, but with senior, experienced and competent judges for hearing writs, and criminal and civil matters.
"All judges of the High Court are not equally competent in performing all functions. Some of them can adjudicate at least 20 cases in a day, while some others can adjudicate one or two matters a day. If steps are not taken to reconstitute the benches, bad days will come for the litigants," he observed.
On the blast at the judge's residence, he said there might be two reasons behind it -- to scare the judges who deal with bail matters, or it might have been an attempt to sabotage the December 18 parliamentary poll.
Presided over by SCBA President Barrister Shafique Ahmed, the meeting was addressed by former SCBA president Barrister M Amir-Ul Islam, former SCBA secretary also BNP Law Secretary Zainul Abedin, former law minister Abdul Matin Khasru, Abdul Mannan Khan, Bashir Ahmed, Azhar Ullah, Momtaz Uddin Mehdi, and SCBA Secretary Nurul Islam Sujan.
The meeting in its resolution condemned the blast at the judge's residence and demanded punishment for the perpetrators.
It also urged the chief justice to reconsider the latest reconstitution of HC benches.
Comments