“No one can do anything if we withdraw the judicial officers from the ministry... If the ministry assumes that the Supreme Court will act according to their decisions, they are making a grave mistake. The consequences of influencing the Supreme Court will be severe,” he warned the attorney general.Referring to the time petition by the government, the Chief Justice said: “We do not know whether we should laugh or cry at this point.” He said there has been many errors and irregularities since independence which the Supreme Court now seeks to set straight. “But when the Chief Justice wants to establish a system, the government gets all flustered thinking everything is going to be ruined.” He said the lesser misunderstanding there was between the Judiciary and the government, the better everything would be. Monday's time extension is the latest in a number of extensions the government has sought to finalise the disciplinary code of conduct for lower court judges, much to the apex court's annoyance. The Judiciary was officially separated from the Executive in November 2007, but the disciplinary rules for lower court judges have yet to be finalised. A historic Appellate Division verdict on the Masdar Hossain case mandated drafting a 12-point guideline on the separation of the Judiciary from the Executive. The Ministry of Law submitted the draft of the code of conduct to the Supreme Court on May 7, 2015. The court sent the draft back to the ministry with some modifications and asked the government to finalise the code and issue a gazette notification. So far, the court has issued multiple orders asking the government to issue the gazette but in vain.
Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha has warned the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs not to offend the Judiciary when it is trying to cooperate with the Executive Branch.
“The Judiciary has extended its hand toward the Executive to smoothly work together. So do not try to offend the Judiciary,” he told Attorney General Mahbubey Alam Monday morning during the hearing of yet another time petition filed by the government for issuing gazette notification on the disciplinary code of conduct for lower court judges.
The Chief Justice led a seven-member bench of the Appellate Division who heard the attorney general seeking two weeks' extension, which he said the government needed as it was working on finalising the code of conduct. The court granted the extension.
During the hearing, the Chief Justice criticised the ministry for not knowing enough about the laws of the country and misinterpreting them.
“They [the ministry] are creating gaps after gaps without knowing the laws. The state cannot do this. Senior judges of the Supreme Court make every decision after long and careful consideration.”
The bench said the ministry could seek the Supreme Court's help if it did not understand any law, and the court would explain the law in line with the constitution.
The Chief Justice also reminded the government that the judicial officers who were working at the Ministry of Law in deputation were not government employees.
