Authority to remove judges returns to Supreme Judicial Council

The Supreme Court's Appellate Division has settled the review of the sixteenth amendment ruling by restoring the Supreme Judicial Council. As a result, the authority to remove judges has been returned to the Supreme Judicial Council.

A bench of the Appellate Division, led by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, on Sunday passed the order during the review hearing regarding the Appellate Division's ruling that declared the sixteenth amendment of the constitution, which granted the authority to remove judges to Parliament, illegal.

In the constitution enacted in 1972, the authority to remove judges of the higher courts was vested in the National Parliament. On January 24, 1975, this authority was transferred to the President through the fourth amendment of the constitution. Later, during Ziaur Rahman's regime, the authority to remove judges was granted to the Supreme Judicial Council through the fifth amendment of the constitution. The fifth amendment, made under martial law proclamation, included changes to Article 96 in this regard.

On September 17, 2014, the sixteenth amendment was passed, restoring the authority to remove judges to Parliament. After the bill was passed, it was published in the gazette on September 22 of the same year.

Challenging the validity of this constitutional amendment, nine lawyers filed a writ petition with the High Court on November 5 of that year. After the preliminary hearing of this writ, the High Court issued a rule on November 9, asking why this amendment should not be declared illegal, null, and unconstitutional.

After hearing the rule, on May 5, 2016, a special bench of the High Court, comprising Justice Moinul Islam Chowdhury, Justice Kazi Reza-ul Haque, and Justice Md. Ashraful Kamal, delivered a judgment declaring the sixteenth amendment unconstitutional based on a majority opinion. On January 4, 2017, after receiving the full copy of the judgment, the state filed an appeal.

Following the hearing of that appeal, on July 3, 2017, the full appellate bench of seven judges, led by then Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, unanimously upheld the High Court's ruling. Subsequently, on August 1 of the same year, a 799-page full judgment was published. The state then filed a petition for reconsideration of this judgment in the Appellate Division on December 24, 2017.