Judiciary should be free from political interference: CJ

Chief justice SK Sinha said on Saturday that the judiciary should always be free from political interference. 
At a function of Bangladesh Women Judges’ Association in Dhaka, he also urged the government to make a law fixing the number of judges at the Supreme Court to reduce political interference in the judiciary.
The association arranged the programme to confer lifetime achievement award on country’s first female judge Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana, also the association’s founding president, who retired as an Appellate Division judge on July 9. 
Law minister Anisul Huq, all the six Appellate Division judges, six female High Court judges and members of the association, among others, were present at the programme. 
The chief justice said that every political government after assuming office appoint Supreme Court judges on their will as there was no limitation of the number of judges to be appointed at the High Court and the Appellate Division.
He said that once there were 11 judges at the Appellate Division, now the number stood at six. 
The judges of the Appellate Division would be at four as the chief justice will go on retirement in January 2018, to be followed by Justice MA Wahhab Miah in November 2018.
The chief justice urged the government to appoint Appellate Division judges immediately.
He said that once there were 95 High Court judges but now the number stood at 83.
Justice Sinha said that in many countries, including the United States and India, the number of the judges at the High Court and the Appellate Division was fixed by law. 
He said that the number of judges in Bangladesh was poor compare to the number of pending cases.
The chief justice also urged the government to approve a long-pending project for the construction of 20-storey administrative building on the Supreme Court premises.
He said that the construction of the 20-storey building was a must to facilitate renovation of the dilapidated main building of the Supreme Court built in 1963. 
The chief justice mentioned that Jatiya Sangsad allocated Tk 16.42 crore for its development in the current budget but the judiciary was not given a single penny for that purpose. 
He said that there was no budgetary allocation for the judiciary for security although there was a huge allocation for the law and order in the current budget.
The chief justice also expressed dissatisfaction over no allocation of plot for the construction of the proposed Judicial Academy for training of the Supreme Court judges although the prime minister assured him of the allocation.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net