Bangladesh apex court reverses parl’s power to remove judges

Bangladesh’s supreme court on Sunday reinstated the supreme judicial council with the authority to investigate allegations of judicial misconduct, while upholding its previous ruling that declared the 16th Constitutional Amendment, which transferred the power of removing judges to parliament, as “illegal”.

“The order was passed by a six-member Bench of the supreme court's apex appellate division led by chief justice Syed Refaat Ahmed,” supreme court lawyer Ruhul Kuddus told reporters after the apex court announced its judgement.

Kuddus, who was present in the hearing, said the ruling reinforced the original constitutional provisions.

The verdict also meant scrapping of the 16th Constitutional Amendment, passed during deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina's regime, giving the task of impeaching judges to the parliament instead of the supreme judicial council comprising apex court judges.

The 16th Amendment was passed in January 2014, relieving the supreme judicial council of its authority of removing judges for incompetence or misconduct. But a three-member high court Bench in May 2016 declared the 16th Amendment unconstitutional, which was challenged by the state in January 2017.

Led by then chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, a seven-judge appellate division Bench upheld the high court's ruling in July 2017, declaring the 16th Constitutional Amendment as “illegal”. Following the judgement, the Hasina-led government filed a petition asking the apex court to review its decision, which was settled with the Sunday’s judgment of the top court.