"As the recruitment process is opaque, the government is appointing inefficient people, loyal to the ruling parties, as judges," said a former government attorney preferring anonymity on grounds that he does not want to be a party to the ongoing pro- and anti-government lawyers' 'mud-slinging'.

"Since the allegation against a High Court additional judge was brought to light by a person none other than the president of the Bar association, the president may look into the issue himself and ask the chief justice to find out the truth," he added.

Supreme Court Bar Association President Barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud, who brought the allegation against the judge, said: "I have gone public with the truth. If I were in his position, I would have resigned immediately."

He indicated that he was not planning to move any petition against the judge now.

Another senior lawyer expressed utter disgust at what he termed 'free fall of judges' morality'.

"A judge with a past of corruption before appointment will naturally indulge in unbridled graft afterwards," he said, referring to allegations of misappropriation of the Bar association fund when he was one of its office-bearers.

When the government was finalising his appointment, the Bar association protested the move, but their words fell to the deaf ears as he was loyal to the main ruling party, he said.

Explaining the circumstances of the judge's appointment, he said when the lawyers launched agitation against the superceding of senior judges by fresh appointees and non-confirmation of additional judges despite the chief justice's recommendations in March, the man in question called a convention to oppose them as a pro-government lawyer.

In the next month, he was appointed additional judge.

"This sort of appointment is destroying the dignity of the High Court," he said.

A tirade of corruption allegations against lower court judges rang loud in recent years, but Rokan's charge against a High Court judge shocked the nation.

"It's a blotch on the image of the High Court and the judiciary would take a long time to come clean," said a lawyer.

It is the second allegation of corruption against a sitting judge in the three decades of the High Court's history.

A judge was accused of taking bribe from deposed president HM Ershad in the sensational cassette scam. The judge then resigned after the allegations were raised officially.

The civil society believes the allegation has lent weight to the lawyers' demands for keeping the judiciary free from political influence and maintaining total transparency in the recruitment process.