HC questions legality of ministry's decision

The High Court (HC) on Wednesday questioned the legality of a decision by the law ministry to stand-release the district and sessions judge of Pirojpur and attach him to the ministry over corruption allegations.
A HC bench of Justice Tariq ul Hakim and Justice Md Iqbal Kabir issued a suo moto rule asking the law secretary and a deputy secretary of the law ministry to explain in two weeks as to why the ministry's decision should not be declared illegal.
The court also fixed March 11 for a hearing on the case.
The court passed the order as some lawyers of the Supreme Court, including advocate Eunus Ali Akond and advocate M Abdul Qaium, brought the matter to the attention of the High Court bench.
Such a government's decision which came after the district and sessions judge passed an order is a threat to independence of judiciary, said advocate M Abdul Qaium.
Earlier in the day, two other Supreme Court lawyers, advocate Shishir Monir and Barrister Syed Sayedul Haque Suman, brought the matter to the notice of two other HC benches, but they did not pass any order.
Law ministry and Supreme Court (SC) sources said the ministry issued the order with approval from the SC.
On Tuesday, the law ministry stand-released Pirojpur District and Sessions Judge Abdul Mannan hours after he gave an order to send a former Awami League lawmaker and his wife to jail in three corruption cases filed against them by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) last year.
The former MP, AKM Abdul Awal, and his wife Laila Parvin appealed for bail, but the court of Judge Abdul Mannan rejected their bail prayers and ordered the authorities concerned to send them to jail.
Later, they submitted a review petition to Joint District and Sessions Judge Nahid Nasrin, who was given the responsibility of acting district and sessions judge of Pirojpur soon after the stand release of Judge Abdul Mannan, and were granted bail, said Awal's lawyer Shahidul Haque Khan Panna.
Abdul Awal, an ex-MP from Pirojpur-1 constituency and also president of the district AL, is accused in three cases while his wife is accused in one case.
ACC Deputy Director Ali Akbar filed the cases with the commission's integrated district office in Barishal on December 30 last year.
According to one case statement, the former lawmaker took a lease of khas land using fake documents and constructed a three-storey building on it.
On January 7, Awal and his wife were granted ad-interim bail by the High Court. Later, the SC upheld the HC order when the anti-graft watchdog appealed for cancelling their bail.
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