The Appellate Division on Thursday deferred again hearing the government petition seeking a review of the AD verdict restoring the provision of removal of Supreme Court judges by the Supreme Judicial Council, instead of the parliament in case of misconduct.
A seven-judge bench chaired by Justice M Enayetur Rahim set the fresh date for hearing on July 11, stating that the chief justice was not in the court.
The hearing has been deferred for the 51st time since August 8, 2022 when the Appellate Division was scheduled for the first time to hear the government鈥檚 review petition filed on December 24, 2017.
The Appellate Division verdict, penned by the then chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha on July 3, 2017, apparently irked the government. Justice SK Sinha was reportedly forced to leave the country and subsequently had to resign in November 2017.
The High Court on May 5 in 2016, after hearing a public interest litigation writ petition filed by nine Supreme Court lawyers, declared the 16th amendment illegal and the Appellate Division on July 3, 2017 upheld the High Court verdict.
The Appellate Division restored the Supreme Judicial Council scrapping the constitution鈥檚 16th amendment which authorised the parliament to inquire into alleged misconduct of the SC judges.
On September 17, 2014, Jatiya Sangsad passed the Constitution (16th Amendment) Bill 2014 empowering the parliament to impeach SC judges for their 鈥榠ncapacity鈥� or 鈥榤isconduct鈥�.
Lawyers and judicial officers criticised the 16th amendment, what they said, as a tool to control the higher judiciary.