The Supreme Court Secretariat Ordinance 2025 stipulates that the Chief Justice may directly approve development or technical projects related to subordinate courts, administrative tribunals and the Supreme Court if the estimated cost does not exceed 50 crore taka. Projects involving higher expenditure must be sent to the Planning Minister for consideration by ECNEC. The government may revise this financial limit in the future based on inflation or other justified circumstances.
On Sunday, the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs issued the ordinance under the President’s order. Earlier, the Advisory Council of the interim government approved the draft establishing a separate Supreme Court Secretariat.
The ordinance outlines the formation of an eight-member Planning and Development Committee under the Secretariat, headed by a judge of the Appellate Division nominated by the Chief Justice. A separate project scrutiny committee, led by the Secretary, will examine project proposals following the government’s 2022 guidelines. If the recommended project cost is within 50 crore taka, the Chief Justice will approve it; if higher, it will proceed to ECNEC.
The same financial threshold applies to non-development schemes. The Chief Justice will also have authority to approve feasibility studies, revised projects, extensions and cost adjustments associated with ongoing or approved projects.
For budget preparation, the Secretariat must prepare income and expenditure statements at least three months prior to the new fiscal year, including allocations for salaries, administrative operations, research, training and development activities of the courts and affiliated offices. These statements will be forwarded to the Finance Minister to be presented in Parliament. The Chief Justice retains full authority to reallocate funds within the approved budget.
The ordinance recognises the Supreme Court Secretariat as an autonomous institution under the authority of the Chief Justice. The Secretary will act as the administrative head and oversee recruitment, transfers, discipline, post creation, administrative management, training and related duties for subordinate courts and the Secretariat.
Concerning judicial service members, the Secretariat will perform responsibilities relating to control and discipline on behalf of the President. Transfer and posting decisions will follow constitutional regulations in consultation with the Supreme Court.
The objective of the ordinance is to institutionalise judicial independence, strengthen supervision of subordinate courts and establish a structured administrative body for judicial services. As Parliament stands dissolved and immediate steps were necessary, the President issued the ordinance under Article 93(1) of the Constitution.
TSN