Chief Justice leave courtroom after heated exchange with SC Bar President

A heated exchange took place between Chief Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury and Supreme Court Bar Association President Barrister AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon today (8 September) during a hearing over a Tk5 lakh fine imposed on a lawyer for allegedly withholding information from the court.

At one point, the Appellate Division bench led by the chief justice left the courtroom.

Several lawyers present in court told journalists that at one stage of the hearing, Barrister Khokon told the chief justice, "Since you became chief justice, lawyers' incomes have declined."

The remark led to an argument between the chief justice and the Bar president. At around 12:30pm, the chief justice and other judges of the Appellate Division left the courtroom.

Later, Barrister Khokon told journalists that a lawyer had been fined Tk5 lakh and that he had politely appealed to the chief justice to waive the penalty.

"I told the chief justice respectfully that since you became chief justice, cases cannot be heard as they were before. As a result, lawyers' incomes have declined. Imposing a Tk5 lakh fine on a junior lawyer has become too much. Please forgive him," he said.

Asked about the incident, Attorney General Barrister Ruhul Quddus Kajol told journalists that around 12:30pm, Bar President Mahbub Uddin Khokon came to the Appellate Division and spoke about the fine.

The chief justice responded, "Look, we have passed an order after considering everything. We will not change our order."

According to the attorney general, the court had found that there had been an attempt to deceive the court and that an earlier order of the Appellate Division had also been flouted.

"In that situation, quite unexpectedly, AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon, who is also a member of parliament, said, 'Lawyers' incomes have declined since you became chief justice.' The honourable chief justice initially took the matter lightly and then asked, 'Do you mean that?'" Kajol said.

"Mahbub Uddin Khokon continued trying to make more or less the same point. The honourable chief justice then said, 'What you have said amounts to absolute contempt of court. Since you have made such a serious statement, I will no longer participate in the court proceedings today.' Saying this, he got up and left," the attorney general said.

The dispute arose in connection with multiple writ petitions filed over the appointment of a nikah registrar.

The Appellate Division fined writ petitioner Md Nur Alam and his lawyer, Sufia Ahmed, Tk5 lakh each – a total of Tk10 lakh – for allegedly withholding information and misleading the court by filing multiple writ petitions over the same matter.

The court ordered that the fines be deposited with Dhaka Shishu Hospital within 30 days.

Senior lawyer Mahbub Uddin Khokon represented Nur Alam.

Senior lawyers Anik R Haque and Md Shishir Monir, along with lawyer Amit Das Gupta, represented another nikah registrar, Mizanur Rahman Murad.