Govt gets more time to publish judges’ conduct rules

The Supreme Court on Sunday extended time for the government up to December 3 to issue a gazette notification on the rules determining discipline and conduct of lower court judges.

A five-member Appellate Division bench, led by acting Chief Justice Abdul Wahhab Miah, passed the order following a time-petition filed by attorney general Mahbubey Alam in the morning.

Earlier on October 8, the SC extended time up to November 5 for publishing the gazette notification.

The lower judiciary was officially separated in November 2007 but the disciplinary rules for lower court judges were yet to be formulated.

On December 2, 1999, the Supreme Court in the Masdar Hossain case issued a seven-point directive, including formulating separate disciplinary rules, for the lower court judges.

The law ministry on May 7, 2015 sent a draft of the rules to the Supreme Court which is similar to the Government Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules 1985.