Review petition against 13th amendment verdict to be filed on Tuesday
On Sunday (25 August), Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam, chamber judge of the Appellate Division, granted affidavit permission for five prominent citizens to file the review petition.
File photo of the High Court division building of the Supreme Court in Dhaka. Photo: Collected
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File photo of the High Court division building of the Supreme Court in Dhaka. Photo: Collected
A review petition challenging the verdict that annulled the 13th amendment to the Constitution, which included the provision for a non-partisan caretaker government, is set to be filed on Tuesday (27 August).
The Appellate Division has granted permission for the petition to be submitted, allowing a reconsideration of the earlier decision.
On Sunday (25 August), Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam, chamber judge of the Appellate Division, granted affidavit permission for five prominent citizens to file the review petition.
The petitioners’ lawyer, Sharif Bhuiyan, shared this update during a press conference at Dr Kamal Hossain’s law chamber in Motijheel on Sunday night. He confirmed that the petition would be submitted within this week.
According to Sharif Bhuiyan, an approximately 800-page review petition has been prepared, with permission secured from the Chamber Judge Court. The review petition is scheduled to be filed on Tuesday (27 August), aiming to overturn the verdict that abolished the caretaker government system.
The 13th amendment, which established the caretaker government provision, was passed by the National Parliament in 1996. However, its validity was challenged in 1998 by Advocate M Salimullah and two other lawyers, who filed a writ petition in the High Court.
On 4 August 2004, the High Court dismissed the writ and upheld the legality of the caretaker government system.
After the High Court’s verdict, an appeal was filed by the petitioners in 2005, which led to a hearing by a seven-member full bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque. On 10 May 2011, the bench delivered a majority opinion that annulled the 13th amendment.
Following this decision, the 15th amendment, which included the abolition of the caretaker government system and other provisions, was passed by the National Parliament on 30 June 2011, and published in a gazette on 3 July 2011.
To seek a review of the 2011 verdict, five prominent citizens, including Badiul Alam Majumdar, secretary of Citizens for Good Governance (Sujon), have applied for permission to file the review petition.
The other petitioners include Tofail Ahmed, M Hafiz Uddin Khan, Jobaerul Haque Bhuiyan, and Zahra Rahman
