Chief
Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed today announced ‘zero tolerance’ against corruption
in the judiciary, stressing the need for formulating a roadmap to regain the
public confidence through establishing transparency and integrity in the
judicial process.
“Over
the years there has been blatant interference in the judiciary. The values of
justice have been destroyed and distorted . . . therefore, in this new
Bangladesh, we want to build a judiciary which would become a safe fortress for
justice through ensuring fairness and the assurance of rights,” he said.
The
chief justice said this yesterday (Saturday, September 21) while addressing all
judges, lawyers and judicial officials from across the country at the Inner
Garden of the Supreme Court.
Law,
Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Adviser Professor Dr Asif Nazrul and Attorney
General Md Asaduzzaman spoke at the function as special guests. Registrar
General of the Supreme Court Aziz Ahmed Bhuiyan delivered the welcome address.
Refaat
Ahmed said attempts were made to use the judiciary as an instrument of
deception, deprivation, oppression and torture, causing a loss to the public
confidence in the judiciary.
“But
the greatest strength of the judiciary is the trust and confidence of the
people. We have to indentify the reasons behind the interruption in the
judiciary and the obstacles in this way,” he said, putting emphasise on
assessing manpower and infrastructural advantages and disadvantages in the
judiciary.
The
chief justice also stressed on preparing a roadmap as a way out to build a
people-oriented legal system and judicial framework.
“There
is no doubt that among the existing problems, the key one is not to separate
the judiciary from the executive effectively. We all had been suffering the
consequences of it for the last one and a half decade,” he added.
The
problems also included lack of transparency and accountability, acute shortage
of judges as per case ratio, lack of co-operative spirit between bar and bench,
infrastructural crisis in courts and absence of logical and acceptable policy
for the transfer and promotion of judges of subordinate courts, the chief
justice added.
Besides,
Refaat Ahmed said, lack of laws for appointing, making permanent and promoting
judges in the High Court and the ignorance to the maintenance of principle of
traditional seniority has pulled the judiciary back time and again.
The
objective of an equitable judiciary is to protect the people, society and the
state by ensuring impartial resolution of disputes within short time at low
cost, the chief justice said, adding, therefore, it is most important to make
the judiciary separate from the executive and legislature and make it
(judiciary) independent.
"Because,
the main responsibility of the judiciary is to ensure the rule of law, not the
law of the ruler," he said.
Refaat
Ahmed drew attention of the government to implement some reforms in the
judiciary on an urgent basis so that it (judiciary) can work independently and
impartially and sought maximum cooperation in this regard.
He
said the aim of this reform will be to overcome the crisis of public confidence
in the judiciary and establish an independent, strong, modern, efficient and
progressive judiciary.
The
chief justice said the full implementation of the Masdar Hossain case verdict
is a must to ensure the institutional independence of the judiciary.
He
said, according to the Article 116A of the Constitution of Bangladesh, judges
of subordinate courts shall be independent in the exercise of judicial
functions.
Refaat
Ahmed emphasized establishing a separate secretariat on an emergency basis under
the Supreme Court for true independence of the judiciary, saying it would be
the first step for the reform in judiciary.
A
complete proposal has already been prepared to establish the separate
secretariat for the judiciary, he said, adding, the proposal would be sent to
the law ministry soon.
After
the establishment of the judicial secretariat, the chief justice said, one of
the tasks to bring about qualitative change in the judiciary would be to ensure
the appointment of judges on the basis of merit, honesty and efficiency, going
beyond personal liking and disliking.
Ensuring
the financial independence of the judiciary is one of the prerequisites for an
independent judiciary, he said.
Refaat
Ahmed advocated for enacting a specific law over the appointment of Supreme
Court judges, saying in many cases politics plays an important role in the
appointment of the judges in the apex court, which is completely contrary to
the concept of justice.
Terming
the backlog of cases as a major problem of the judiciary, he said at present,
there are about 42 lakh cases remain pending across the country for disposing
of.
Judges
of the High Court and Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, Chairman of the
Judiciary Reform Commission former Justice Shah Abu Naeem Mominur Rahman, Supreme
Court Bar Association President Barrister AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon, Secretary of
the Law and Justice Division Md Golam Rabbani, Supreme Court officials and
nearly two thousand judges from all over the country were present.