All previous law ministers treated judiciary with disregard: Appellate Division

All the past law ministers in the country, who were once lawyers, have treated the judiciary with disregard after becoming ministers, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has remarked.

Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury of the Appellate Division made the observation today (30 July) during the hearing on a petition seeking a review of the Supreme Court judgment on Warrant of Precedence.  

After the hearing, the Appellate Division fixed 6 August to deliver its verdict.

Senior lawyer Ahsanul Karim who conducted the hearing on the Warrant of Precedence said, "The next day, after returning from being the law minister, they say again, 'My Lord, please hear this'."

Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury said government bureaucrats retire at the age of 60, and then appear in the Bar Council exam to become lawyers. "Why do you have to do that? We do not go there [to become government employees]," said Zubayer Rahman.

He said now is the time to stop such practices. 

Earlier, the Appellate Division set 30 July for a hearing on the petition seeking review of the Appellate Division's ruling on the Warrant of Precedence for important figures of the state.

The Appellate Division issued a verdict on 11 January 2015, amending the Warrant of Precedence, and the full verdict was published subsequently on 10 November 2016. The judgment expressed that the status of constitutional office holders in the state must be upheld at a superior level and prioritised accordingly. In addition, the ranks of district judges were raised by eight steps, making them equal to secretaries.

The Appellate Division's observation of the verdict stated that the rank of the chief justice should be raised one notch to the same level as the Speaker of the National Parliament and that important figures of the state – recipient of the Independence Award, Ekushey Padak, and freedom fighters with Bir Uttam – should be appropriately included in the rank.

The cabinet secretary and the then chairman of the Public Service Commission filed separate petitions in 2017 seeking a review of the judgement. The review petition was joined by 90 deputy attorneys general and assistant attorneys general. The hearing on the petition seeking a review began on 27 April this year.