Will strive to ensure justice for all: CJ

Newly appointed Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain yesterday said he would always try to protect coordination among the three state organs and do everything possible to strongly establish the rule of law and ensure justice for all.

“A country can go forward to the way of its development through mutual cooperation among the three organs of the state -- legislative, executive and judiciary. Development process is hampered if there is any lack of cooperation among these organs.

“At the same time, I will try to ensure that the Supreme Court discharges its duties in accordance with the constitution,” he observed.

The CJ came up with the comments after receiving felicitations from the attorney general and the Supreme Court Bar Association president at the courtroom-1 of the Appellate Division.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam and SCBA President Advocate Zainul Abedin accorded felicitations to Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain after he had joined the office as the 22nd chief justice of the country yesterday morning.

The CJ further said, “We will have to construct the image of the court in such a manner that people, powerful and weak, rich and poor, immediately after entering the court premises would feel they are all equal and would get justice in accordance with the law. Therefore, faith and confidence of the people towards the court will be stronger.”

He added formulation of a law to appoint judges under article 95 (2) (C) of the Constitution is inevitable under the present context.

The chief justice said, “Backlog of cases is a big problem. We have to work unitedly to solve this problem. Sincere assistance from the bar association is also necessary to that end.

“It is said the bar [association] and the bench [SC] are two feathers of a same bird. One of them is inactive without the other. So, case backlog is a problem not only for the court. It is a reason for uneasiness also for the bar. If the piles of cases increase, faith and confidence of the justice seekers towards the bar will decrease.

“So, the bar has to come forward to resolve this problem,” he added.     

He said the trend of filing adjournment petitions without a reason has to stop.

“Use of ICT in the judicial process has to start. It will have to enhance towards the way of full digitalisation. The bar has to welcome the change which will take place due to digitalisation and have to adjust to it without opposing it.”

The CJ expressed his expectation for continuous cooperation from the government in this regard.

Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, a senior judge of the Appellate Division, was appointed as the chief justice on February 2, superseding Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah, who was discharging duties of the CJ for the last four months.

The new chief justice took oath on February 3.

The attorney general in his speech appreciated the judicial career of the CJ saying that he discharged his duties as the chamber judge of the Appellate Division for a long time and passed orders within a very short time in a very fair manner.

In his statement, the SCBA president said Justice Mahmud was appointed as a deputy attorney general in 1999, as an additional High Court judge on February 22, 2011 (during the regime of the then Awami League-led government) and was confirmed as the HC judge on February 22, 2003 when BNP was in office.

“You [Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain] were elevated as a judge of the Appellate Division on February 22, 2011 for your competence and quality and performing justice-like duties in judicial functions,” he observed.

Advocate Zainul, also a vice-chairman of BNP, said a serious political instability is prevailing in the country.

To cash in on this situation, some members of the law-enforcement agencies are filing false and harassment cases against political leaders, activists and innocent people in order to express loyalty to the ruling party, he alleged.

Thousands of people are being implicated in such cases, he said, adding that arrest business is going on for filing the cases.

“The Supreme Court Bar Association is not being spared from such false and harassment cases. Prestige of the bar president and secretary has been damaged by filing of political cases which we did not see in the past,” Advocate Zainul added.