The incident occurred during the morning session of the Appellate Division.
At one point, the Chief Justice and four other judges of the Appellate Division reportedly left the courtroom and went to the judges’ chambers.
Later, at a press conference, Bar President Mahbub Uddin Khokon raised several allegations against the Chief Justice, including administrative stagnation, delays in judicial proceedings and a shortage of benches.
The Bar president alleged that the pace of case hearings in the Appellate Division has slowed since the current Chief Justice assumed office.
He said that previously three benches comprising 11 judges were active, whereas only one bench is currently functioning. This, he claimed, has hampered the speedy disposal of cases and caused suffering for litigants.
Khokon also alleged that the slowdown in judicial proceedings has adversely affected lawyers’ professional work and income.
Junior and general practitioners are particularly affected by the situation, he said.
The Bar president further alleged that stay orders and injunctions issued by chamber courts often remain in force for a year or longer because the related cases are not heard by the Appellate Division for extended periods.
He also expressed concern over the recent imposition of a Tk 500,000 fine on a junior lawyer for allegedly withholding information.
According to Khokon, a request had been made to pardon the lawyer, but the request was not accepted.
He also alleged that the longstanding practice of “mentioning”—through which lawyers can draw the court’s attention to urgent cases or seek changes in the order of cases on the cause list—has been discontinued in the Appellate Division.
Court sources said the confrontation occurred when the Bar president directly raised these issues during the morning hearing.
According to the sources, this led to a heated exchange between Khokon and the Chief Justice. At one point, the Chief Justice, along with the four other judges on the bench, left the courtroom and went to their chambers.
The unusual incident at the Supreme Court created considerable discussion among lawyers and litigants.
However, no official statement has so far been issued by the Chief Justice or the Supreme Court administration regarding the allegations raised by the Bar president or the events that took place inside the courtroom.
