Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed on Saturday said that the interim government鈥檚 approval in principle of the Supreme Court Secretariat Ordinance, 2025, on October 23 was a major step toward ensuring judicial independence.
He made the remarks while addressing a ceremony marking the 72nd founding anniversary of Rajshahi University鈥檚 law department.
鈥楾he in-principle policy nod given to the Supreme Court Secretariat Ordinance 2025 is the product of a very prudently conducted multilateral effort in which strategic posturing by the Office of the Chief Justice vis-脿-vis the executive branch of this interim government has, over the past 15 months, played a pivotal role and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future,鈥� the chief justice said.
He said that article 22 of the constitution mandated the separation of the judiciary from the executive, but the constitutional commitment had remained unfulfilled for decades.
鈥楾oday, with a renewed vision following the July Revolution, we stand at a crossroads to give life to that promise 鈥� to establish a judiciary that is not merely separated, but institutionally autonomous, morally courageous, and constitutionally empowered to safeguard justice for all,鈥� he said.
The chief justice said that after assuming office, he announced a roadmap for judicial reform, envisioning a separate Supreme Court secretariat as the central hub of judicial administration to ensure efficiency, transparency and accessibility in justice delivery.
He emphasised that the Secretariat would also enable the judiciary to control its own budget and infrastructure 鈥� areas long dependent on the executive.
鈥楾he judiciary must seek independence not merely as constitutional rhetoric but as a lived experience,鈥� he said, adding that institutionalising such reform would be an act of fidelity to the constitution, the ideals of 1971 and the moral call of the July uprising.
Refaat Ahmed urged judges, bar associations and members of the judicial service to uphold the reform with reciprocity, reasonableness and mutual respect.
Reaffirming his moral commitment to justice, the chief justice said, 鈥楲aw is not a trade; it is a trust 鈥� and a sacred one. The judiciary must be seen not merely as a functional cog within the machinery of power, but as the living embodiment of the Republic鈥檚 moral conscience.鈥�
He said that genuine judicial independence would remain incomplete without technological and procedural modernisation.
He also called for reforms in legal education to cultivate jurists who are 鈥榣earned in law but enlightened in spirit鈥�, upholding fairness, empathy and constitutional morality.
The event, chaired by RU vice-chancellor Professor Saleh Hasan Naqib, was addressed, among others, by Appellate Division judges, Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury, Justice SM Emdadul Hoque and Justice AKM Asaduzzaman.