The interim government on Thursday approved in principle the overdue establishment of a separate secretariat for the judiciary in a move to ensure its independence from the executive.
The council of advisers endorsed the draft of 鈥楽upreme Court Secretariat Ordinance, 2025鈥� placed by the Law and Justice Division in its weekly meeting chaired by chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus at his Tejgaon office in the city.
鈥楾he council of advisers has approved the Supreme Court Secretariat Ordinance, 2025 in principle to establish a separate secretariat, which would look into the postings and appointments of lower court judges and make its own budget independently,鈥� law, justice and parliamentary affairs adviser Asif Nazrul told a press briefing at the Foreign Service Academy聽 after the meeting.
He said that it would now require opinions of the finance adviser and the public administration adviser before the draft was placed in the council of adviser鈥檚 meeting again for the final approval.
Underlining the need for the separation of judiciary for its independence, he said that the recent incident of granting bail to around 800 people accused in different cases within four to five hours by a High Court bench was also discussed in the meeting with surprise how it could be possible.聽聽
Formed in October, 2024, the judiciary reform commission earlier recommended key reforms, including the establishment of a separate secretariat for the judiciary under the Supreme Court, aiming to free the judiciary from the influence of the executive branch of the state.
The draft ordinance said the proposed 鈥楽upreme Court Secretariat鈥� would be given the status of a ministry with full authority over planning and management of judiciary-related projects and look after disciplinary issues of the lower judiciary.
Once the separate secretariat is established, it will be able to directly communicate with any ministry or division of the government, and vice versa. At present, such communications are made through the law ministry.
The independence of the judiciary has remained only on paper although it was officially separated from the executive by the military-led interim government on November 1, 2007 based on 12-point directives issued by the Appellate Division in 1999 against a writ petition by a group of lower court judges to separate the judiciary from the executive.
Legal and judicial experts said that they felt no change in the judiciary in the past 16 years.聽
The law ministry was doing all although the promotion, posting and disciplinary action are taken in the name of the president and in consultation with the Supreme Court, they said
They said that the judiciary was still at the mercy of the executive for its pay scale, budget and funds as the government was yet to establish a secretariat for the Supreme Court for ensuring financial freedom for the judiciary as per the directive.
