Govt asked to place CrPC ordinance to SC by tomorrow

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The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday asked the government to place the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Ordinance 2007 by tomorrow to complete the legal process of separation of the judiciary from the executive.
The order came after Attorney General Fida M Kamal sought time for submitting the gazette book on the amended CrPC. The apex court on February 1 ordered the government to come up with an amended CrPC within February 12.

The attorney general told the court that the president has already promulgated the ordinance and it was in the press for printing. He said it would be placed before the SC as soon as the printing is done.

He then produced a document in favour of the president’s signature on the ordinance. “The Supreme Court will have to issue a notification for implementation of the ordinance,” added the chief law officer of the state.

Meanwhile, Barrister Amir-Ul Islam, counsel for the original petitioner Masdar Hossain, sought to point out the inconsistencies between the Appellate Division’s 12-directive and the rules and regulations promulgated by the government for the separation. The court said it would hear the matter tomorrow.

“Whether those rules have been made in compliance with the Supreme Court directives should be thoroughly examined, as in my analysis there are some anomalies in the rules,” Amir said.

He observed that those have to be looked into for the sake of a meaningful separation of the judiciary from the executive.

The full bench of the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Syed JR Mudassir Husain yesterday heard the progress in implementation of the top court’s verdict.

Earlier, President Iajuddin Ahmed signed the CrPC (Amendment) Ordinance 2007 on Sunday night.

On December 2, 1999, the SC issued a 12-point directive for the government to implement to separate the judiciary from the executive.

On January 17 this year, the Appellate Division ordered the government to present by January 21 the four rules promulgated on judicial services.

The promulgation of the rules came four years after the Appellate Division modified the rules on January 26, 2003 in line with the judgment in the judiciary-separation case popularly known as Masdar Hossain case.

“It’s a historic day… the separation has been completed today,” Masdar Hossain, now the Sirajganj district judge, told reporters.

“From now on, the judiciary will be able to work for the welfare of the people and without control of the executive,” he added.

He said separation of the judiciary would enable the magistrates to discharge their administrative duties more effectively.

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