Authority to remove judges returns to Supreme Judicial Council

The Appellate Division of Supreme Court on Sunday resolved the review petition against its earlier order that declared the 16th Amendment to the Constitution is unconstitutional and illegal.

Now, the Supreme Judicial Council will have the power to remove the top court judges.

A six-member bench of the Appellate Division of the SC, led by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, passed the order after hearing on the review petition, challenging the SC verdict.

Through this order, this crucial review appeal has been resolved after eight years.

Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman represented the state in the hearing.

On August 15, the Appellate Division announced it would reconsider the verdict that scrapped the 16th amendment. The hearing on the state’s review petition was scheduled for the last week of October. The 16th amendment, made on September 17 in 2014, had abolished the Chief Justice led Supreme Judicial Council and restored parliament’s power to remove the judges. But some Supreme Court lawyers challenged the decision on November 5, 2014.

The High Court issued a rule on the amendment on November 9, 2014. Later, the HC declared the amendment illegal on the basis of the view of the majority followed by a hearing on May 5, 2016.

The government appealed against the High Court verdict in 2017.

An Appellate Division full bench led by the former Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha heard the appeal, and delivered the verdict on July 3, 2017, rejecting the appeal and upholding the HC verdict and released the full text of the verdict on August 1 in 2017.

The state made a review application against that judgment.

Meanwhile, in the original 1972 constitution, the power to remove judges was vested in the National Parliament. However, the 4th amendment in 1975 transferred this authority to the president.

Later, during Ziaur Rahman’s regime, the 5th amendment shifted this power to the Supreme Judicial Council.