Judges
JS passes Bill replacing 1982 Ordinance for SC judges
The ‘Bangladesh Supreme Court Judges (Leave, Pension and Privileges) Bill, 2023’ was placed in Parliament on Monday with a provision of a monthly special allowance of Tk 70,000 for a retired chief justice.
Law minister Anisul Huq moved the Bill and it was passed by voice vote.
As per the Bill, a “Chief Justice” means the Chief Justice of Bangladesh while “Judge” means a Judge of Appellate Division and High Court Division of the Supreme Court and includes the Chief Justice and Additional Judges.
The special allowance will be given to meet expenses such as paying for domestic help, car driver, house guard and maintenance of office-cum-residence.
The draft law was brought to formulate a law repealing an ordinance of the military regime as per a judgment of the High Court.
The proposed law will replace the Supreme Court Judges (Leave, Pension and Privileges) Ordinance, 1982.
It says the leave granted to a judge may, at his option, be either- leave on full salary; or leave on half salary; or leave partly on full salary and partly on half salary.
For the purpose of this part, any period of leave on full salary shall be reckoned as double the period of leave on half salary.
The aggregate amount of leave granted to a judge during the whole period of service as such shall not exceed, in terms of leave on half salary, 36 months.
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The period of leave granted at any one time shall not exceed, in the case of leave on full salary.
The monthly rate of leave salary payable to a judge while on leave on full salary shall be equal to the monthly rate of his salary.
The monthly rate of leave salary payable to a Judge while on leave on half salary shall be equal to half the monthly rate of his salary.
A judge shall be entitled to draw his leave salary in Bangladeshi currency only.
A judge shall, on his retirement, resignation or removal, be paid a pension in accordance with the provisions of this Ordinance if he or she has- completed not less than five years of service for pension and attained the retiring age; or completed not less than ten years of service for pension and, before attaining the retiring age, resigned; or completed not less than five years of service for pension and, before attaining the retiring age, either resigned, his resignation having been medically certified to be necessitated by ill health, or been removed for physical or mental incapacity.
The chief justice will get Tk 4.50 lakh as injury gratuity and Tk 1.50 lakh for annual pension while the amount for both is Tk 4.50 and Tk 1.40 lakh respectively for justice or additional justice.
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The chief justice will get Tk 5 lakh as family gratuity and Tk 1.40 lakh for annual pension while the amount for both is Tk 4 lakh and Tk 1.20 lakh respectively for justice or additional justice.
The children of justices will get Tk 20,000 if the mother is not alive while Tk 12,000 if the mother is alive.
President asks judges to ease litigants' suffering through IT
President Abdul Hamid has asked the Supreme Court to ease the suffering of litigants by using information technology (IT).
A delegation of judges led by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique submitted the Supreme Court's annual report of 2021 at Bangabhaban Wednesday, President's Press Secretary Joynal Abedin told UNB.
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During the meeting, the chief justice said: "This year the Supreme Court will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Supreme Court."
12 SC judges contract Covid-19
Twelve judges of the Appellate Division and the High Court have been infected with Covid-19.
Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique said when court proceedings started on Monday morning.
Trial proceedings in many important benches have been suspended due to surge of Covid cases, said the Chief Justice. “If one of a double bench gets infected, the trial of that bench remains suspended.”
Read: Bangladesh gets another 4 mn doses of COVID-19 vaccine from US
“In this case, if you do not cooperate, then it becomes difficult for us. Otherwise, we will have to reintroduce virtual judicial proceedings,” he added.
Amid a steady rise in Covid infections, Bangladesh reported two more Covid-linked deaths with 1,680 new infections in 24 hours till Sunday morning.
The new figures took the country’s total death toll to 29,140 while caseload to 19,65,173, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Read: Health Minister concerned over uptick in Covid, urges return to protocols
The daily-case positivity rate jumped to 15.66 per cent from Saturday’s 15.07 per cent as 10,778 samples were tested during the period, said the DGHS.
The mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.48 per cent. The recovery rate declined to 97.02 per cent from Saturday’s 97.10 per cent as 169 patients recovered during this period.
22 lower court judges infected with Covid-19 during training
At least 22 judges of lower courts have been infected with Covid-19 during a training at Bangladesh Judicial Administration Training Institute, officials said on Monday.
The infected judges were from 43rd and 44th batches of the training, said director of Bangladesh Judicial Administration Training Institute, Mohammad Golam Kibria.
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They were kept in isolation at the institute, he said.
The authorities concerned also suspended the training until further notice, as the judges got infected with the virus, he added.
The two-month long training of 70 judges of different Assistant Judges and Judicial Magistrates began on January 9.
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Covid-19: 21 judges, 62 officials of subordinate courts infected
A total of 21 judges and 62 staff of subordinate courts were infected with coronavirus across the country as of Saturday night.
Confirming the information, Md Saifur Rahman, special officer of Bangladesh Supreme Court, said the information was recorded until 9:45pm on Saturday.
Earlier on Saturday, Saifur Rahman informed that 15 coronavirus-infected judges of subordinate courts are undergoing treatment at home currently.
13 subordinate court Judges among 39 infected with coronavirus
Thirteen judges and 26 staffers of subordinate courts have been infected with coronavirus across the country.