Unqualified high court judges are unacceptable!

By Kabir Mia, New York
5 September 2004, 18:00 PM
I agree with The Daily Star editorial (August 31) and the Point-Counterpoint article by Mr. M. Abdul Latif Mondal (September 2) that only the best and qualified lawyers should be appointed High Court judges. That is why it was so disappointing to hear the comments of, Dr. Kamal Hossain, on August 29 about the nineteen newly sworn-in additional High Court judges: "Who cannot write a sentence in English and who does not know how to proceed a case will now deliver judgement. He will hand down death sentence without hearing the case. It's a shame." And unacceptable!

Is there such a dearth of qualified lawyers in Bangladesh that the incompetent ones have to be elevated to the bench? I doubt it. If the judges have been selected primarily on their party loyalty (BNP) rather than qualification, as it appears to be the case, this is partisanship gone amok! Bangladeshis deserve better from their government and are entitled to judges qualified to pass judgement on matters as serious as life and death. The government should publish the qualification of each and every one of the nineteen judges who have been recently appointed and let the nation judge their suitability for positions that may impact on an individual's well being and the nation's future. If the government is unwilling to share the information with the public, one would have to conclude that they are indeed not qualified! In that case, as The Daily Star recommends, "the Chief Justice should certainly heed the request of the Bar to convene a full-court reference with representatives from Bar to reconsider the appointments." Semi-literate and unqualified judges should be removed from the bench even if they have been sworn in stealthily!