The former lower court judge will have to face a seven-day jail if he fails to pay the penalty within 15 days.
A bench of Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice SM Kuddus Zaman passed the order after disposing of a rule issued earlier over the matter.
The court also issued a four-point directive over the protocol during the visit of Supreme Court judges across the country and ordered the SC registrar general and law secretary to publish those through a circular.
Advocate Faisal H Khan and Advocate Moin Uddin Tipu stood for Firoz Alam while Deputy Attorney General Rafi Ahmed represented the state.
On October 20, 2003, a letter was issued to the Feni Judge’s Court informing it about the visit of Justice Syed Amirul Islam of the High Court. As per the rules, the district judge was supposed to provide protocol to the HC judge.
On October 22, the HC judge reached Feni Railway Station but there was no one there to receive him. He made a phone call to the Judge’s Court where a representative of the court received the phone and told him to wait as the district judge was busy with the court proceedings.
The HC judge had to wait for hours and later the district judge arranged the protocol in the afternoon.
After returning to Dhaka on October 29, Syed Amirul Islam issued a suo moto rule against three people, including District Judge Md Firoz, on contempt of court charge.
The two other accused were Feni District Judge Court Najir Year Ahmed and Nayeb-e-Najir Altaf Hossain.
The court asked the trio to submit a written apology to the HC on November 17 but before that, Firoz Alam filed a petition with the Appellate Division challenging the HC order.
Later on January 31, 2011, the Appellate Division rejected the petition and ordered for disposing of the rule.
As per the HC directives, a district and session’s judge or a judicial officer of the same rank will receive a Supreme Court judge during his/her visit or tour to a district town during holiday. The district and session’s judge must make a courtesy call to the visiting SC judge if she stays in the district town.
If the visit is made during a workday, judge in-charge Nejarat will receive the SC judge. However, the district judge or a judicial official in his absence must call the SC judge after the court’s proceedings.
Judge in-charge Nejarat or a senior official will take care of the visiting SC judge if he/she stays at any village or upazila.
During the departure of the SC judge after the visit, the district judge or additional judge must remain present. The deputy commissioner and the police super of the district or their representatives will have to be present.