HC questions appointment of three judges as ministers’ PSs

The High Court (HC) has issued a rule questioning why the appointment of three members of the Bangladesh Judicial Service as private secretaries (PSs) to two ministers and a state minister should not be declared illegal.

The HC bench of Justice Md Toufiq Inam and Justice Mahmud Hasan issued the rule on Thursday following a writ petition filed challenging the legality of assigning judicial officers to executive posts outside their judicial duties.

Advocate Rashedul Haque Khokon filed the writ petition on 21 September. Advocate Chanchal Kumar Biswas appeared for the petitioner. 

The petition cited Rule 4(1) of the Judicial Service Formation Rules, 2025, which specifies designated cadre posts of the judicial service in its schedule, arguing that the posts assigned to the three judicial officers were not included in the schedule.

The writ petition challenged three government notifications appointing the judicial officers to executive positions.

Kamrul Hasan, a senior assistant secretary at the Law and Justice Division who is also a joint district and sessions judge, was appointed private secretary to the home minister on 25 February.

GM Farhan Ishtiaq, a joint district judge, was appointed private secretary to the primary and mass education minister on 9 March. 

Md Abu Bakar Siddique, a Chattogram metropolitan magistrate, was appointed PS to the state minister for social welfare on 16 September.

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