By NNN-PTI
Dhaka : Giving up its power to appoint Supreme Court judges, Bangladesh’s military-backed interim government has authorised a panel headed by the chief justice to recommend candidates to the posts, a senior official said Wednesday.
“The advisory council (cabinet) has decided to create of the Supreme Judicial Commission with the chief justice in the chair to ensure neutral and credible appointment of Supreme Court judges,” in its weekly meeting last evening, a spokeman of the chief adviser’s office said.
However, the recommendation by the Supreme Judicial Commission will require the mandatory approval of the President who will have the power to reject it.
The spokesman said the commission, through the prime minister, would recommend to the president two candidates for each vacant post without any order of preference. The commission members may also interview the candidates.
“If the president disagrees with the recommendations, he would send them back to the commission for review and if the president disagreed with the revised recommendation also, he reserved the right to reject all recommendations altogether.”
According to the proposal the Supreme Judicial Commission will be a nine-member body headed by the chief justice that will select and recommend candidates as judges of the Supreme Court.
The other eight members of the commission will be the law minister, two senior most judges of the Appellate Division, the attorney general, a member of parliament each from the government and the opposition, the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association and the law secretary.