Comments on CJ embarrassed govt

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said her government was “embarrassed” by the comments of two ministers about Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha.

During an unscheduled discussion after the weekly cabinet meeting, Hasina told her cabinet colleagues that those were not government's statements, but the ministers' personal views, one minister told The Daily Star after the meeting.

On Saturday and Sunday, Food Minister Qamrul Islam and Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque blasted the chief justice for his comments critical of the prosecution and investigation teams for their poor performance in dealing with the war crimes cases.

In her reaction, the PM did not name the two ministers although they were present at the meeting.

Hasina said the way the two spoke sounded as if the government was affiliated with the organisation (Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee), which organised Saturday's discussion where Qamrul and Mozammel criticised the CJ, according to the minister, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The PM added it was not right for them to comment on every matter in public programmes.

Earlier in the morning, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed told journalists that no one should comment on sub judice matters.

 The developments come as the Supreme Court is set to deliver its verdict in the war crimes case against Jamaat leader Mir Quasem Ali, sentenced to death by a war crimes tribunal against which he appealed.

On Sunday, Qamrul alleged that the chief justice was openly speaking in the language used by BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and their lobbyists in their efforts to undermine the war crimes trial. Going even further, Mozammel said the CJ should not be delivering the verdict in Quasem's case. 

A day before, the food minister said that the appeal in Quasem's case should be reheard by a reconstituted Appellate Division bench, keeping the chief justice out of it. He also demanded that Attorney General Mahbubey Alam should be excluded from the hearing.

At the same programme, the Liberation War minister said if the CJ had indeed made such comments, he must as well know the remedy.

Earlier on February 23, the chief justice during the hearing of the Quasem's appeal expressed dissatisfaction over the poor performance of the prosecutors and investigators in dealing with the war crimes cases.

On Sunday, the AG said the two ministers' comments were unconstitutional and uncalled for, and urged all not to make any undesirable comment about the chief justice. “Such comments by the ministers have damaged the judiciary and such remarks against the judiciary are unprecedented.” 

Meanwhile, a Supreme Court lawyer yesterday served a legal notice on Qamrul and Mozammel, requesting them to explain why their comments should not be declared illegal and unconstitutional, and considered an offence tantamount to contempt of court.

CABINET APPROVAL

The cabinet also approved in principle the draft of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Act-2016, under which six dedicated fast-moving bus lanes will be built for the improvement of the capital's transport system.

BRT Line 3 would be the first of such six rotes stretching 42.5km from Shibbari in Gazipur to Jhilmil in Keraniganj via Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. Initially, construction of the 22km route from Gazipur to Airport will be done by 2018.

The proposed law will regulate the BRT system which would be able to transport 40,000 passengers per hour on the Gazipur-Airport-Jhilmil route, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam told reporters after the cabinet meeting at the secretariat.

The proposed law has a provision for highest 10 years jail term or fine of up to Tk 50 lakh or both for violating the law.

On the designated routes, fast-moving, high-capacity BRT buses will run between stations every three minutes, the secretary said.

The government plans to implement BRT services in Dhaka, Gazipur, Narsingdi, Narayanganj, Manikganj and Munshiganj.

The cabinet also approved to the draft of Supreme Court Judges (Remuneration and Privileges) Amendment Act-2016 and the draft agreement between Bangladesh and India on cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.