The Supreme Court administration is concerned about administrative chaos as a result of the lack of a proper seniority list of Bangladesh Judicial Service (BJS) members.The apprehension came out in a notification issued by the Supreme Court that sought to update information on the members of the judicial service.
The seniority list is important in the matter of formation of the panel for promotion of members of Bangladesh Judicial Service by Selection Committee and Full Court Meeting, giving advice on posting by the GA Committee, appointment of investigating officers regarding complaints brought against judicial officers, absence of an up-to-date seniority list is threatening to create various types of administrative chaos, said the notification issued by Md Golam Rabbani, registrar general of the SC.
"The seniority list of the members of Bangladesh Judicial Service has not been revised or reformulated since 2015. As a result, various complications are being created in conducting the supervisory activities by the Supreme Court on the members of the judicial service as described in the Constitution the country," also read the notification.
However, the Supreme Court administration has taken an initiative to prepare a seniority list of the Bangladesh Judicial Service (BJS) members. It has already prepared a draft of the list where a total of 1925 subordinate court judges have been included.
According to the list, there are a total of 306 District and Sessions Judges in the country and 51 judges are under process of promoting to this post. There are 359 additional district and session judges, 215 joint district and session judges, 455 senior assistant judges, and 539 assistant judges.
All the officials have been given an identification number following a model that includes the year of joining the service, Bangladesh Civil Service (judicial) or Bangladesh Judicial Service code, batch number and the merit list number obtained by the official in the Public Service Commission (PSC) or BJS recruiting process.
The draft has been posted on the Supreme Court website with a view to receiving and resolving the objections of the judicial service members before finalising it. The members of the judicial service have been asked to submit their objections over the list by October 25 through their concerned higher authorities, or by post or email.
"Identification number' has already been introduced among the members of other services in the country who have been appointed through the Public Service Commission (PSC). As a result, it becomes possible to take decisions easily and quickly on any administrative matter. Therefore, the necessity of launching an identity number for judicial officers of Bangladesh like other service officers of the republic has been felt for a long time," also read the notification.
Realizing all these issues, the Chief Justice gave instructions for the drafting of the seniority list of the members of the judicial service. In the light of the said instructions, the seniority list of the members of the judicial service has been drafted by this Court.
