Judge Recruitment: 21 may not get jobs

Twenty-one candidates who have been recommended for the posts of lower court judges by the Judicial Service Commission run up against “objections” in police verification and may not be appointed.

In March this year, the Bangladesh Judicial Service Commission (BJSC) selected 100 candidates through a comprehensive recruitment process that includes preliminary test, written examinations and viva voce and recommended that the law ministry appoint them as lower court judges.

Six of the candidates, who have been selected in the freedom fighter quota, have apparently submitted flawed documents, according to two high officials of the law ministry.

The Ministry of Liberation War Affairs has also reported to the law ministry that there are faults in six freedom fighters' certificates, the officials told The Daily Star requesting anonymity.

Police have also found objections against 15 other general candidates during verification, which is a part of the recruitment process.

The officials said the 21 candidates, against whom objections have been raised, would not be appointed, as the law ministry would mention it in the recommendations to be sent to the president.

The law ministry is going to send the summaries of all 100 selected candidates in a day or two to the president through the Prime Minister's Office for approval of their appointment. Once approved by the president, the law ministry would give them posting upon advice from the Supreme Court.

The president may not approve the appointment of the 21 candidates, who face objections, the officials added.

A process for recruiting 115 new judges for the lower courts have meanwhile been underway to fill the vacant posts and ease the massive case backlog.

BJSC Secretary Paresh Chandra Sharma told The Daily Star that the commission has already held the written examinations of 1,225 candidates, who had earlier qualified in the preliminary test held on May 20.

Evaluation of their answer sheets has been going on, he said, adding that only the successful candidates would be called for viva.

Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha on October 31 in a message stressed the need for doubling the number of judges in the lower courts.

The number of approved posts of judges for the lower courts is 1,655, of which 387 are now vacant. It is not possible for 1,268 judges to dispose of more than 27 lakh cases pending with the courts across the country, the chief justice observed.