The activities of the newly-established Supreme Court (SC) Secretariat remain almost stagnant due to inadequate manpower and infrastructure.
Consequently, the Supreme Court continues to rely heavily on the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs for almost all of its secretarial functions, a dependency that often influences the Judiciary.
"At present, we don't have sufficient manpower to operate a separate secretariat. However, steps are underway to recruit the required personnel," Mohammad Habibur Rahman Siddiquee, the first Acting Secretary of the SC Secretariat, told The Financial Express.
He noted that the issuance of The Supreme Court Secretariat Ordinance 2025 was a historic development. Naturally, it would take some time for the new secretariat to become fully operational, and the government would take all necessary initiatives in this regard.
In order to establish a separate secretariat to ensure proper supervisory, controlling, and disciplinary functions over the subordinate courts, and to facilitate effective realisation of judicial independence, the Advisory Council of the interim government gave final approval to the draft ordinance on November 20. The Ministry of Law issued the ordinance on November 30 pursuant to an order from the President.
Subsequently, the Post Creation Committee, stated in the ordinance, held its first meeting on December 7 and created a total of 489 posts for the Secretariat.
Of these, 107 posts are designated for officers and 382 for assistant-level employees. Among the 107 officer posts, 105 are administrative positions for the judicial service members, while one post each for a chief accounting officer and a system analyst.
The post-creation proposal has already received approvals from the Chief Adviser's Office and the President's Office, and it is now awaiting endorsement from the Ministry of Finance. The appointment process for the Secretariat will commence once the ministry okays the bid, sources said.
On December 1, immediate past Chief Justice Dr Syed Refaat Ahmed appointed the SC registrar general as the first acting secretary of the Secretariat, and on December 11 inaugurated its office at one of the SC's administrative buildings.
Meanwhile, once preparations to commence its operations are complete, a separate gazette needs to be issued to enforce Section 7 of the ordinance. The section pertains to the control and discipline of lower court judges, a function currently managed by the Ministry of Law in consultation with the SC.
Masdar Hossain, a member of the Judiciary Reform Commission and a former senior district and sessions judge, expressed hope that the recruitment process for the SC Secretariat would be completed soon, and a separate gazette would be issued to implement Section 7 of the ordinance.
According to Section 1(2) of the ordinance, "Subject to the completion of the establishment of the Supreme Court Secretariat and launching of its full operation, the Government shall, in consultation with the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, bring the provisions of Section 7 into force by notification in the Official Gazette."
"For the purposes of Article 116 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court Secretariat shall perform all necessary administrative functions on behalf of the President in matters relating to the control and discipline of the members of the Service," reads its Section 7(2).
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