Dhaka, Jan 16 (bdnews24.com)—The Supreme Court Wednesday re-issued a ruling that the government fulfil all requirements of judicial magistrates and notify the court of compliance by Jan 30.

The government had missed an earlier deadline of Jan 14.

An Appellate Division bench headed by Chief justice Ruhul Amin re-issued the order in view of a prior ruling on Dec 12 which had ordered the government to equip judicial magistrates with all their requirements—including vehicles and manpower—and submit the necessary compliance report by Jan 14.

Attorney general Fida M Kamal presented a letter dated Dec 18 in court, saying the establishment ministry in that letter asked the law ministry for proposals to institute additional positions of judicial magistrates and their support personnel.

The government is not complying with the Supreme Court ruling, and is providing the judicial magistrates with "bundles of briefs instead of vehicles and required manpower", the bench said.

It referred to the letter and expressed dissatisfaction over governmental delays on the issue.

The court asked the government to "cut the processing rigmarole short" while dealing with the proposals forwarded as required and implement the separation of judiciary quickly and effectively.

The attorney general added that as the separation of judiciary had already been partly effected, there should be no reason to delay the process.

The judicial magistrates find it difficult to function satisfactorily without the necessary vehicles and manpower they've asked for, the court said, which in turn adversely affects those seeking justice.

The attorney general said the government must now complete the process "with no scope for any procrastination on anybody's part in this connection".

At this point, barrister Amir-ul Islam, acting for the government, stated that employment of manpower for the judicial magistracy still came under the authority of the establishment ministry.

"Which contradicts the spirit of the verdict in the Mazdar Hossain case," Amirul added.

"Such employment should be within the jurisdiction of the Judicial Service Commission," he said.

The court agreed with Amirul on this point.

The judiciary began officially functioning independently from the executive branch on Nov 1, 2007.

The court will issue the next ruling on full implementation of judiciary separation on Jan 31.

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