Dhaka, Oct. 29 -- The High Court on Thursday issued a rule asking the government to explain as to why the appointment of three members of the Bangladesh Judicial Service as private secretaries to two ministers and a state minister should not be declared illegal.

The HC bench, led by Justice Md Toufiq Inam, issued the rule after hearing a writ petition challenging the legality of assigning judges to executive branch positions outside their judicial duties.

The court also wanted to know why directives should not be issued to prevent serving judicial officers from being appointed or posted to the executive branch.

Public administration, law, home and primary and mass education secretaries among others were made respondents to the rule whi...