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The operations of the Supreme Court Secretariat have been officially ceased. Concurrently, all judges of this secretariat have been attached to the Ministry of Law. This order was issued in a gazette notification from the Ministry of Law on Tuesday evening (May 19).
Related sources indicate that although a separate secretariat ordinance for the Supreme Court was issued during the tenure of the previous interim government, the current government did not convert it into law. Consequently, with the cessation of this ordinance’s effectiveness, the administrative structure of the judiciary has reverted to its previous system.
Article 22 of the original 1972 Constitution stipulates that the state shall ensure the ‘separation of the judiciary from the executive branch.’ However, despite two long decades passing, no significant visible initiative was taken to implement this principle.
Subsequently, in 1994, due to dissatisfaction over the pay grade of lower court judges, 441 judges, including the then-Judge Masdar Hossain, filed a writ petition in the High Court. In 1997, the High Court ordered the establishment of the Judicial Service as an independent service. When the state appealed against this verdict, the Appellate Division delivered a historic judgment on December 2, 1999, which became known as the ‘Masdar Hossain Case Verdict.’
That Appellate Division verdict issued several groundbreaking directives, including the complete independence of the judiciary from the executive branch, placing the control of Judicial Magistrates in the hands of the Supreme Court, and formulating the annual budget of lower courts through the Supreme Court.
Nearly eight years after the verdict, on November 1, 2007, under the then military-backed caretaker government, the separation of the judiciary was formally declared, but it largely remained confined to paper.
After the student-people’s uprising on August 5, 2024, Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed was appointed as the 25th Chief Justice of the country. In an address on September 21, he emphasized the establishment of a separate secretariat under the Supreme Court for the full implementation of the Masdar Hossain case verdict. He stated that the true independence of judges would not be ensured unless the joint jurisdiction or dual governance system of the Supreme Court and the Ministry of Law was abolished.
Based on the Chief Justice’s proposal and subsequent recommendations from the Judicial Reform Commission, an ordinance for establishing an independent secretariat for the Supreme Court was issued on November 30 last year. However, as the new government did not convert it into law, the Supreme Court Secretariat has formally ceased its operations.