The Supreme Court has said that the Supreme Judicial Council is currently conducting a preliminary inquiry into the conduct of some judges. At the same time, it has been reported that considerable progress has been made in this regard.
This matter was informed by the Supreme Court administration today on Wednesday.
It was informed in the notification of the Supreme Court on November 7 that the Supreme Judicial Council has recently been constituted and the Council meeting has also been held after the verdict of the appeal on the Sixteenth Amendment of the Constitution. It was also informed in the circular that the allegations of various irregularities against some judges are being scrutinized.
Supreme Court Registrar General Aziz Ahmad Bhuya said on October 16 that 12 judges are not initially given a bench in the High Court Division.
In the face of the students' demands, the Registrar General of the Supreme Court announced that the 12 judges would not be given a bench after discussing with the coordinators of the anti-discrimination student movement. After his announcement, the protesters left the High Court area.
Earlier, on October 20, the Appellate Division disposed of the appeal seeking review of the decision to cancel the 16th Amendment of the Constitution regarding the removal of judges. Lawyers said that as a result of that verdict, if a complaint of incompetence and professional misconduct is raised against a judge, action can be taken by investigation through the Supreme Judicial Council.
In the 1972 constitution, the National Parliament had the power to remove judges. This power was given to the President by the Fourth Amendment in 1975. This power was given to the Supreme Judicial Council in 1977, which was included in the Constitution through the Fifth Amendment.
In the case of Khandkar Delwar Hossain v. Italian Marble Works in 2005, the High Court struck down the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution. In 2010, the Appellate Division upheld the Fifth Amendment's ruling. However, the Appellate Division upheld the provisions of the Supreme Judicial Council in view of greater transparency and safeguarding the independence of the judiciary.
In 2011, the Fifteenth Amendment was passed by the National Assembly leaving the provisions of the Supreme Judicial Council unchanged. Later, the sixteenth amendment of the constitution was brought in 2014 to take back the power to remove judges to the national parliament.
However, after the final hearing, a special bench of the High Court declared the 16th Amendment illegal after the final hearing.
The state side appealed against that verdict. On July 3, 2017, a seven-member full bench of the Appellate Division headed by the then Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha unanimously dismissed the appeal. So that the Supreme Judicial Council returns.
The full judgment of the Appellate Division was published on 1 August 2017. The then Chief Justice SK Sinha made observations on various issues including democracy, politics, corruption, independence of the judiciary in his judgment. However, at that time, Awami League government ministers and party leaders-activists expressed their anger about that observation. They also demanded the resignation of Chief Justice Sinha.
There are allegations that SK Sinha was forced by the government to go on leave in 2017 citing illness. While going abroad, SK Sinha told reporters that he was not sick, he was embarrassed by the criticism of the ruling party. Later he resigned while abroad and has not returned to the country till now. Later, the state filed an application on December 24, 2017, seeking reconsideration of the judgment of the Appellate Division.
