\\\'Empowering JS to remove judges may lead to miscarriage of justice\\\'

The proposed constitutional amendment seeking to restore parliament’s authority to remove Supreme Court judges might make the judicial process vulnerable to partisan influence leading to politically-induced culture of impunity and miscarriage of justice. ‘The judicial process may be vulnerable to partisan influence leading to politically-induced culture of impunity on one hand and miscarried justice on the other,’ Executive Director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Dr Iftekharuzzaman has said. Asked about the risk if parliament gets back the power to remove judges, Dr Zaman said the risk is about undermining the judicial independence, integrity and objectivity, as a result of which the prospect of the rule of law and justice may be exposed to newer challenges. On Sunday last, the government placed a constitutional amendment bill in parliament over the matter and the existing constitutional provision for the chief justice-led Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) will cease to exist once the bill is passed. Asked why the resistance to the 16th constitutional amendment bill justified, the TIB chief said the proposed amendment has been facing opposition primarily of widespread perception of its possible abuse in the context of ever-growing menace of zero-sum political culture in Bangladesh, according to UNB.