SC letter to ACC: HC verdict on its legality Tuesday

The High Court will deliver its verdict on Tuesday on the legality of a letter sent by the Supreme Court to the Anti-Corruption Commission asking it to halt investigation into a graft allegation against retired apex court judge Joynal Abedin.

The case has been put on top of the Tuesday’s cause list of the High Court Division. 

Earlier, a division bench comprising Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Shahidul Karim concluded hearing arguments from the lawyers concerned on the legality of the letter on November 1.

Arunava Chakraborty, the then additional registrar of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, sent a letter to the ACC on March 28 asking it to halt a full-scale investigation into the graft allegation against the judge.

Sources said ACC got the letter from the Supreme Court after the watchdog body initiated an investigation into the graft allegation against Justice Joynal Abedin.

On July 18, 2010, the ACC issued a notice to former Justice Joynal Abedin over a probe into the allegation against him.

The commission launched the investigation into the allegation against Justice Joynal after Awami League assumed power through the polls held during the tenure of last caretaker regime led by Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed.

In the letter, the Supreme Court says Justice Joynal was a judge of the High Court Division and the Appellate Division. During his long judicial career, he delivered judgments in many serious cases.

The judge awarded death sentence to many offenders in murder cases. Following his orders, many condemned prisoners were hanged. If the ACC takes any step against an apex-court judge, all the verdicts and decisions passed by him will be put on question, says the SC.

It will not be appropriate on the part of the anti-graft watchdog to initiate any proceedings against Justice Joynal, the SC letter opines.

Quoting Article 111 of the Constitution, the SC letter says all the authorities concerned are bound to comply with the orders of the apex court.

As lawyer Md Badiuzzaman Tarafdar drew the HC’s attention to the letter, the court issued a rule asking the authorities concerned to explain why the letter shall not be illegal.

Source: unb