Supreme Court to hear Thursday review pleas seeking caretaker govt restoration
Justice Md Rezaul Haque of the Appellate Division today (20 October) set the date in response to two separate petitions filed before the court in this regard
The Supreme Court will hear review petitions, seeking the restoration of the non-party caretaker government system on Thursday (24 October).
Justice Md Rezaul Haque of the Appellate Division today (20 October) set the date in response to two separate petitions filed before the court in this regard.
Senior lawyers Zainul Abedin, Sharif Bhuiyan and Mohammad Shishir Monir moved for the petition in the court.
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Earlier on 16 October, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir filed a petition seeking review of a 2010 Supreme Court verdict that scrapped the non-party caretaker government system.
The Appellate Division granted Fakhrul permission to file the review petition, although Fakhrul was not a party to the original writ or appeal that led to the system's abolition.
Previously, on 25 August, five eminent citizens filed a review petition regarding the matter. They are Sushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Sujan) president M Hafizuddin Khan, Sujan secretary Badiul Alam Majumder, local government expert Tofail Ahmed, and citizens Md Jobirul Hoque and Zahrah Rahman.
This action follows the student-led uprising that toppled Sheikh Hasina's government on 5 August, forcing her to flee to India. Subsequently, an interim government was formed under Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus on 8 August.
In 1996, the Jatiya Sangsad passed the 13th amendment of the constitution that introduced the non-party caretaker government system.
However, on 10 May 2011, the Appellate Division, in a landmark judgement, had declared the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which introduced the caretaker government system, unconstitutional.
However, the court allowed for two more general elections—of the 10th and 11th parliaments—to be held under the caretaker government framework, barring the involvement of a retired chief justice.
The verdict cancelling the 13th Amendment came following a 1999 writ by Supreme Court Lawyer M Salimullah challenging its legality.
Following the verdict, the Jatiya Sangsad on 30 June 2011 passed the 15th constitutional amendment bill that scrapped the nonparty caretaker government system and brought some significant changes in the charter. And then, a gazette notification was issued on 3 July that year in this regard.
