Country returns to caretaker government during elections: High Court verdict

Country returns to caretaker government during elections: High Court verdict

National Desk :    |    ০৭:৪১ পিএম, ২০২৪-১২-১৭

Staff Reporter: The High Court has declared several articles, including the relevant articles of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished the caretaker government system, as illegal and invalid. As a result, the caretaker government system during elections has returned. The High Court bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Debashish Roy Chowdhury gave this verdict on Tuesday (December 17).

In its observation of the verdict, the High Court said that the Fifteenth Amendment was contrary to the summary judgment of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

Earlier, the same bench of the High Court had fixed December 17 as the date to pronounce the verdict on the rule issued on the validity of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution in the wake of a separate writ.

The hearing in this regard concluded in the same bench on Wednesday (December 4). Lawyers Fida M Kamal and Shahriar Kabir heard the petition in the court today.

The Fifteenth Amendment Bill was passed in the National Parliament on June 30, 2011 and the President gave his assent to it on July 3, 2011. The amendment abolished the caretaker government system and gave constitutional recognition to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman 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 restored in the constitution, and the principles of nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism were added as state principles. Five prominent people, including Badiul Alam Majumdar, editor of Sushant Garg (Sujon), filed a writ petition in the High Court seeking directions to cancel this amendment. The High Court issued a rule on August 19. The rule asked why the Fifteenth Amendment Act of the Constitution should not be declared inconsistent with the Constitution.

Later, Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Mia Golam Parwar, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Gono Forum joined as intervenors in support of this rule. In addition, Md. Mofazzal Hossain, a freedom fighter, also filed a writ petition. In the hearing, the lawyers representing the writ petitioner, BNP, the state, Jamaat, Gono Forum, individuals and organizations presented their statements.