The government has removed 15 lower court judges who were serving as officials of the Supreme Court Secretariat and attached them to the law ministry, effectively suspending the Secretariat’s functions.

A gazette notification issued on Tuesday gave retrospective effect to the attachment of the judges from April 10, meaning their removal from the Secretariat and reassignment to the ministry took effect on that date.

Among the 15 judges, 10 -- including Sheikh Ashfaqur Rahman, who was serving as senior secretary of the Secretariat -- are district and sessions judges. The remaining five are additional district and sessions judges, joint district judges, and senior assistant judges.

The Secretariat was established under the Supreme Court Secretariat Ordinance, 2025, issued by the Dr Muhammad Yunus-led interim government on November 30 last year. Then Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed inaugurated the Secretariat on December 10, aiming to bring the judiciary under Supreme Court control and strengthen judicial independence.

On April 2 this year, a special parliamentary committee led by ruling BNP lawmaker Advocate Zainul Abedin recommended that 20 interim government ordinances be allowed to lapse, including the Supreme Court Secretariat Ordinance.

However, Law Minister Md Asaduzzaman told The Daily Star on April 3 that the BNP government would further scrutinise the ordinances to ensure judicial independence before reintroducing them as bills in parliament.