Chief justice to propose forming of a council for selecting new HC judges

Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed today told a full court meeting of the High Court judges that he will propose to the authorities concerned to form a judicial appointment council for selecting competent candidates for their appointment as new HC judges.
Disclosing his plan, the chief justice also said specific rules will be formulated for constituting the council under the constitution and he will share all these relevant issues with the HC judges later on, sources in the full court meeting told The Daily Star.
Article 95(1) (c) of the constitution says, “Qualifications as may be prescribed by law for appointment as a Judge of the Supreme Court”.
The closed-door meeting was held at the conference room of the Supreme Court’s Administrative Building No-4 yesterday afternoon with Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed in the chair.
The chief justice also informed the full court meeting that the SC has recently proposed establishing a separate secretariat for the judiciary.
The SC administration forwarded the proposal, along with a concept paper describing the necessity and objectives of a separate secretariat, to the law ministry on October 27.
The full court meeting decided to promote 10 additional district and sessions judges to the posts of district and sessions judges, three joint district judges to the posts of additional district judges and 124 assistant judges to the posts of senior assistant judges.
The meeting also approved next year’s annual calendar of the SC with a total of 63 days’ vacation excluding other leaves.