Incumbent and former leaders of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) yesterday strongly protested the demand for 50 percent appointments of High Court judges from among the members of Bangladesh Judicial Service Association (BJSA).
On Saturday, the BJSA put forward the demand before the chief justice at its 57th annual conference held at Osmani Memorial Hall in the capital.
Dismissing the demand as "unrealistic, unlawful and outcome of trade-union mindset", the SCBA leaders said such demand raised by the association is a "neo evil effort" to weaken the judiciary at the highest level.
This is "unfortunate and disappointing" after the separation of the judiciary from the executive control.
In a joint statement, they also urged the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary affairs to take appropriate step to restrain the judges of the subordinate courts from conducting such "trade union-like activities in the name of association".
The signatories to the statement are SCBA Secretary AM Amin Uddin and ex-secretaries M Shahidul Karim Siddique, M Momtaz Uddin Fakir, M Mahbub Ali, Bashir Ahmed and M Enayetur Rahim.