The post creation committee on Sunday approved 489 new positions for the newly established Supreme Court Secretariat.

A press release issued by the Supreme Court administration said that the positions included 107 officers and 382 support staff.

The eight-member committee, headed by the senior-most Appellate Division judge, Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam, made the decision unanimously at its first meeting held at the Supreme Court conference room.

Only one member of the committee, the finance secretary, was absent from the meeting.

Of the 107 officer posts, 105 officers will come from the judicial administration and a chief accounts officer and a system analyst will be recruited from outside the judiciary, the release said.

This marks the first major administrative step toward operationalising the independent Supreme Court Secretariat, a key institutional reform under the separation of the judiciary.

Chief justice Syed Refaat Ahmed formed the committee on November 30, a day after the interim government issued the gazette notification promulgating the order establishing the Supreme Court Secretariat under the chief justice’s authority.

The committee includes Appellate Division judge Justice AKM Asaduzzaman, High Court Division judges Justice Md Atabullah and Justice Md Bazlur Rahman, the law secretary, the public administration secretary, the finance secretary, and the Supreme Court registrar general.

Earlier, Supreme Court registrar general Md Habibur Rahman Siddiquee was made acting secretary of the new Supreme Court Secretariat until further orders.