Law Minister Anisul Huq has said the approved bill on impeaching the Supreme Court judges would be placed in the upcoming parliament session scheduled to begin on September 1.
He said: “The law ministry will now complete the procedure to place the sixteenth charter amendment proposal restoring the parliament’s authority to impeach the Supreme Court judges, as a bill in the upcoming JS session.”
“We are hopeful that the Parliament will pass the bill in the third Parliament session.”
The minister told journalists on Monday afternoon, immediately after the cabinet approved the final draft of 16 Amendment Act 2014, allowing the restoration of parliament's authority to impeach Supreme Court judges.
Replying to a query, the minister said: “The independence of the judiciary will not be violated because of the amendment. The Supreme Court judges will be able to discharge their regular duties independently.”
The law minister further said: “The government will also introduce a new act--Impeachment Act-- within three months.”
Earlier in the day, the cabinet led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has approved the final draft of 16 Amendment Act 2014, allowing the restoration of parliament's authority to impeach Supreme Court judges.
The council passed the final draft in its regular meeting on Monday afternoon.
According to the amendment, the article 96 of the constitution will be revived which would allow the parliament to impeach Supreme Court judges for their misconduct.
The provision giving parliament the authority to remove judges, contained in the 1972 constitution and later dropped by the Ziaur Rahman regime.