SC rebukes govt law officers for being late

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The Supreme Court yesterday censured government law officers, including the attorney general, for staying away from the court at the start of a case that would decide the fate of a great lot of other cases under the emergency rules.

None from the Attorney General’s Office was seen around when the SC resumed hearing on the government appeal against the High Court judgment that declared illegal its sanction for trying Sheikh Hasina in an extortion case under the EPR.

As the truancy of the government attorneys impeded court function, the 7-member full bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice M Ruhul Amin, asked the government Advocate-on-Record (AoR) to make a proper reply.

“My lord, I have sent a car to fetch the attorney general and his close aides,” AoR Khalequzzaman told the court.

“What you have sent — car or chariot — that we don’t want to know…

Go, track him down and bring him in,” Chief Justice Ruhul Amin retorted.

As Attorney General Fida M Kamal along with Additional Attorney General Salah Uddin Ahmed entered the courtroom, the chief justice fulminated: “It has become part of culture for the Office of Attorney General not to be present at court timely.”

The chief justice had a word of warning for the attorney general: “Tell your men to come in court punctually. If it continues further, you will have to pay dearly. The government cannot dictate the timings of the court.”

As a result of the hassles, the hearing on the government appeal was delayed by nearly half an hour.

At the outset of the submissions, Additional AG Salah Uddin Ahmed told the court that the impugned High Court judgment was wrong in law as it embarked on an area beyond its jurisdiction while setting aside entire trial proceedings.

This out-of-the-way edict was not even invoked by the writ petitioner, former premier Sheikh Hasina, he added.

“The High Court should not adjudicate the issue which was not put forward for remedy by the writ petitioner,” he said, adding that the HC acted with ‘mala fide intention’ as it exercised its power beyond its scope.

He described it as a “colorable exercise of law”.

He submitted that the Emergency Powers Rules (EPR) cannot be declared illegal as it is a valid law under the Emergency Power Ordinance 2007, which was promulgated by the president in accordance with the provision of the Constitution.

The alleged criminal offence was tried under the Penal Code and the government had given sanction only to try the case under the Emergency Powers Rules (EPR) for speedy dispensation of the trial, which is also guaranteed under the Constitution as fundamental right of a citizen, he contended.

The hearing remained inconclusive. It resumes today.

On February 6, the High Court, upon a writ petition filed by the detained Awami League president Hasina, had declared illegal the government sanction placing the case against her for trial under the EPR and quashed the entire trial proceedings.

On February 26, the Appellate Division upon an application granted the government leave to appeal against the HC rulings, fixing March 16 for hearing.

The apex court also stayed the operation of the HC judgment and stalled the trial of the extortion case against Hasina under the EPR until the appeal is resolved.

Azam J Chowdhury, managing director of East Coast Trading Pvt. Ltd., filed the Tk 3-crore extortion case against Hasina and her detained cousin and ex-minister Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim on June 13 last year with Gulshan police station.

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