7 HC judges apply for leave, 4 more SC judges appointed

The President on Tuesday appointed four judges to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, raising the number of the division judges at eight.

The newly appointed four judges are: Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah, Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana, Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Muhammad Imman Ali.

Following the appointment, the nation got for the first time an woman judge, Nazmun Ara Sultana, in the Appellate Division of the apex court. She was also first woman judge of the High Court Division.

The judges are the most senior judges of the HC Division of the SC. No judge was superseded in the process of new appointments.

According to Article 95(1) of the Constitution, President Md Zillur Rahman appointed the judges. The Law Ministry Tuesday issued a circular in this regard.

The Appellate Division was facing shortage of the judges for long, delaying disposal of cases and increasing backlog and sufferings of the justice seekers.

After the Mohajote government assumed office in 2009, number of the judges in the Appellate Division was raised from seven to eleven and then separate three benches of the division conducted cases.

But now, only three judges (one bench) including Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque are there in practice. Other two judges are: Justice Md Muzammel Hossain and Justice Surandra Kumar Sinha.

When, ABM Khairul Haque was appointed as the Chief Justice in September last year, two judges-- Justice Md Abdul Matin and Justice Shah Abu Nayeem Mominur Rahman-- were superseded. From that time, they went on leave. In the meantime, Md Abdul Matin retired.

Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque will administer oath to the four newly appointed judges at the judges' lounge of the SC at about 10:30 am, SC Registrar Ashraful Islam told The New Nation yesterday evening.

While, bdnews24.com adds, only hours after president Zillur Rahman appointed four new judges to the Appellate Division, seven High Court judges have applied for leave on ‘personal grounds’.

Those applying for leave are chief of the International Crimes Tribunal Nizamul Huq, and justices Muhammed Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed, Mohammad Abdul Hye, Faruque Ahmed, Mohammad Marzi-ul-Huq, Mohammad Shamsul Huda and A H M Shamsuddin Chowdhury.

Confirming the development to bdnews24.com, one of the seven judges said they applied for leave until March 28 to chief justice A B M Kahirul Haque on Tuesday afternoon.

“The move follows the appointment of four judges, he said.