The Supreme Court Bar Association yesterday at a meeting decided that any member, including the attorney general, would be expelled from the Bar in failure to comply with the boycott decision.

According to a meeting resolution, the Bar will serve notices on Law Minister Moudud Ahmed and Chief Justice Syed JR Mudassir Husain, seeking explanations from them of what consideration applied to the judges' appointment.

The Bar will file a writ petition with the High Court to challenge the appointment after the lawyers receive explanations.

Eminent jurist Dr Kamal Hossain slated the government for the "mysterious" appointment before the court vacation, which he said was based on political loyalty to the ruling coalition and nepotism.

"Who cannot write a sentence in English and who does not know how to proceed a case will now deliver judgement. He will hand down death sentence without hearing the case. It's a shame," Dr Kamal told the meeting.

"We want to know how they were appointed as judges and who recommended their recruitment."

The government appointed 19 additional judges to the High Court on August 23, triggering resentment among lawyers who described the recruitment as the worst-case example of political motives. The fourth recruitment by the BNP-led coalition took the number of judges appointed to the High Court to 45 since 2002.

The Bar at an emergency requisition meeting that day resolved the new judges should not be addressed as "My Lord" which should be replaced by a new term in consultation with the association.

Bar President Rokanuddin Mahmud told yesterday's meeting that "respect comes from inside and it cannot be demanded". "The government pushed us to the extremes."

Rumour is rife that people with false educational certificates and having served out jail terms were appointed as judges, he said, adding: "In the past judges were intellectuals but the things have changed."

Yesterday, the Bar decided to boycott the Appellate Division as the chief justice did not move to recognise lawyers' demand.

"This is nothing new. A similar decision was taken in the late 1980s when the chief justice avoided sitting in the bench," Attorney General AF Hassan Ariff told private news agency UNB.

The Bar urged the chief justice to convene a full-court reference with representatives from the Bar to reconsider the judges' appointment.

Sammilita Ainjibi Samannay Parishad, an association of lawyers, boycotted court on August 25 protesting the appointment.

The appointees include a daughter and nephews of a former minister and BNP lawmakers, while another was a leader of Islami Chhatra Shibir, an Islamic student organisation patronised by coalition partner Jamaat-e-Islami.

Another new judge, defeated in the last election to the Supreme Court Bar Association, contested it on the BNP slate.