Dhaka: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered two ministers to appear before it on 20 March for their explanations over controversial comments about Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha.

A nine-member bench of the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice SK Sinha fixed a fresh date after hearing of a time petition filed by Food Minister Qamrul Islam, reports local news agency.

Meanwhile, Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq appeared before the court in the morning following an earlier order of the court.

On 14 March, ministers Qamrul Islam and Mozammel Huq offered unconditional apology to the court for their remarks.

They begged the pardon in separate applications submitted to the SC through their lawyers.

Qamrul, now in Malaysia, to attend a conference, filed a petition with the SC seeking time to appear before it as he is unlikely to be able to return home by 16 March.

Earlier on 8 March, the Supreme Court summoned the two ministers to appear before it on 15 March for their reactions to reported remarks of Chief Justice SK Sinha about prosecution as regards the trial of Jamaat leader Mir Quasem Ali in a war crimes case.

The court then ordered them to explain their comments before it by 14 March.

Ministers Qamrul Islam and Mozammel Huq demanded resignation of the Chief Justice for his reported remarks that ‘the prosecution is doing politics with the trial of condemned war criminal and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali’.

The two ministers made the demands at a roundtable discussion organised by Ekatorrer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee in the city on 5 March.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam on March 6 urged all to exercise restraint in making comments on such issues as those are ‘unconstitutional’.

During the hearing of arguments on Mir Quasem Ali’s appeal petition on 23 February, the Chief Justice purportedly expressed dissatisfaction over the activities of the prosecution and the investigation agency.