Review petition in Supreme Court to restore caretaker government system

A review application has been made in the Supreme Court for the annulment of the Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution which introduced the caretaker government system. The system of caretaker government was introduced by the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

On Tuesday (August 27), five persons, including Badiul Alam Majumder, editor for good governance, applied for this review in the relevant branch of the Appellate Division. The other applicants are Tofail Ahmed, M Hafiz Uddin Khan, Zobairul Haque Bhuiyan and Zahra Rahman.

Advocate Sharif Bhuiyan submitted this application on their behalf. He said that they will seek time for the hearing in October after the Supreme Court vacation.

According to the review petition, caretaker government system is introduced through the political consensus of the people. Hence it has become a fundamental structure of the Constitution, which cannot be abrogated.

It is known that the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court and the High Court Division will go on annual vacation on September 6. Court proceedings are scheduled to begin on October 20 after recess.

Incidentally, after the overthrow of the Ershad government in a popular coup in 1990, general elections were held under an interim government, but the issue was not included in the constitution. However, in 1996, under the pressure of opposition parties led by Awami League, the BNP passed the Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution by bringing the provisions of caretaker government. In 1998, three lawyers including Advocate M Salim Ullah filed a writ petition in the High Court challenging the validity of the amendment during the Awami League government. If the writ was dismissed on 4 August 2004 during the next BNP government, the caretaker government remained valid. The petitioners appealed in 2005 against the judgment of the High Court.

After two years in power of the caretaker government formed after the imposition of a state of emergency in the context of political crisis in 2006, the weakness of this system has been questioned. Later, when the Awami League returned to power, the hearing of the Thirteenth Amendment case began in the Appellate Division on March 1, 2010. In addition to the appellant and the state, 8 leading lawyers appeared as amicus in the hearing. They favored maintaining the caretaker government system. Even the then Attorney General Mahbubey Alam was in favor of it. After granting the appeal, the seven-judge full appellate bench ruled on May 10, 2011, declaring the Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution null and void. ABM Khairul Haque was the Chief Justice then.

The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution was passed by the National Assembly on June 30, 2011, and the President assented to it on July 3, before the full judgment was released. Through that amendment, the caretaker government system was abolished and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was given constitutional recognition as the Father of the Nation. In addition, the number of seats reserved for women in the National Parliament was increased from 45 to 50; Secularism and religious freedom were re-enforced in the constitution. The principles of nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism were added as state principles.

Recently five people including Badiul Alam Majumdar filed a writ petition seeking cancellation of Fifteenth Amendment. On August 19, the bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Shashank Shekhar Roy issued a ruling on the preliminary hearing of the writ petition. The rule asked why the fifteenth amendment of the constitution should not be invalid. This time, an application (review) has been made to the Appellate Division for reconsideration of the judgment of the cancellation of the Thirteenth Amendment.

Bangladesh /KH