The Appellate Division of the SC today will hear the petition filed on behalf of the government by the Attorney General's (AG) Office.

It was the 22nd appeal by the government for extension of the deadline for separation of the judiciary.

The court had earlier issued 12-point directive for the government to follow in separating the judiciary from the executive.

The SC on October 20, 2005 had refused to entertain a government petition seeking four months' time for separation of the judiciary as per the 12-point directive.

The Appellate division on October 20, 2005 had fixed February 1, 2006, as the date for hearing the contempt rule issued by the apex court against nine bureaucrats on charge of distorting the judgement in Masdar Hossain versus Bangladesh case popularly known as judiciary separation case.

The SC had issued the contempt rule upon the nine officials on November 29, 2004.

The accused officials are joint secretaries of the establishment ministry Lokman Hakim, Badrul Alam Tarafdar and Md Abdur Rab Hawlader, its Deputy Secretary Md Abul Kalam Azad Chowdhury and Senior Assistant Secretary Md Khalilur Rahman, Deputy Secretary of the law, justice and parliamentary affairs ministry Shafiqul Islam Talukder and its senior Assistant Secretary Mohammad Harunur Rashid, and Deputy Secretary of the Cabinet Division Md Fazlul Huq and Deputy Secretary of finance ministry AKM Motaleb Hossain.

Expressing annoyance over the government's delay in carrying out the directives of the court, the SC had refused to exempt nine bureaucrats from the contempt charge.

Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Barrister Moudud Ahmed Sunday told a press conference that the government would seek another four months to separate the judiciary in accordance with the SC directives.

"We will seek four more months on some technical grounds regarding separation of the judiciary on February 1. Separating the judiciary is an administrative and structural problem for the government," he said.

Separating the judiciary in line with the SC directives warrants some changes to the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the government needs more time to make those amendments, said sources.

The Supreme Court Bar Association will stage sit-in demonstrations in front of the main entrance to the SC today in protest at the government's plea for further time extension.

The programme was announced at a discussion between SCBA and representatives of different professional bodies yesterday.