True, there is no alternative to appointment of neutral and unbiased judges in ensuring that judiciary act impartially and professionally in the matter of dispensation of justice as an integral part of its constitutional obligations. Our experience being to the contrary, former CJ Mahmudul Amin Chowdhury has proposed a committee consisting of Chief Justice, Attorney General and Supreme Court Bar Association chief to bring a qualitative change in recruitment and promotion of judges to the highest judiciary. The incumbent CJ is, however, opposed to induction of chief justice in the committee arguing that the office of the CJ needs to be kept above controversy. We would like to suggest that the honourable chief justice call upon distinguished former chief justices to provide their inputs towards devising a recruitment formula that is balanced and based on considerations of merit and unimpeachable probity. The goal is to curb the dominance of the executive in matters of recruitment and promotion and ensure that the chief justice's recommendations carry appropriate weight.

The chief justice thinks that independence of the judiciary cannot come by virtue of law alone; free working of the judiciary depends upon the mindset of the judges which requires soul-searching and self-purification to be in a positive frame. With remarkable candour, the CJ suggested that in delivering a verdict if the judge looked to a carrot rather than looking at the law then travesty of justice is bound to take place. He has also brought up the issue of law being applied differently to different people.

There is no doubt that the judiciary comprising the bench and the bar is in need of reform. They must be part of the surge for reform we see around. The tone has been set by the chief justice and what seems imperative now is the fostering of a collegiate environment in which all heads are put together to bring about the long-felt changes in the judicial system.