The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has scheduled the hearing of four review petitions challenging the verdict that annulled the caretaker government system for August 26.
The petitions were filed by the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, five eminent citizens, and an individual.
The date was set by the Appellate Division, led by Chief Justice Syed Refat Ahmed, after the matter was raised for hearing.
Lawyer Mohammad Shishir Monir represented Jamaat-e-Islami in raising the issue on Thursday morning.
Earlier, on May 10, 2011, a full bench of seven judges of the Appellate Division, by a majority decision, declared the 13th Amendment to the Constitution—introducing the caretaker government system—null and void.
This verdict followed the approval of an appeal against a High Court ruling that had upheld the amendment.
The first review petition was filed in October last year by BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. Prior to that, five eminent citizens, including Badilul Alam Majumdar, secretary of Citizens for Good Governance (Sujan), had filed a petition seeking reconsideration. The other four petitioners were Tofail Ahmed, M. Hafizuddin Khan, Zobairul Haque Bhuiyan, and Zahra Rahman.
On October 23 last year, Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Mia Golam Parwar also filed a petition seeking review of the verdict.
Additionally, Mofazzal Hossain, a Bir Muktijoddha (freedom fighter) from Narayanpara, Raninagar in Naogaon, filed a review petition last year. He also filed another petition regarding the 15th Amendment.
Thus, five separate review petitions concerning the 13th and 15th amendments are now awaiting hearings.
Background: The 13th Amendment, which introduced the caretaker government system, was added to the Constitution in 1996. Its validity was challenged in the High Court in 1998 by lawyers including M. Salimullah. Following hearings, the High Court ruled in favor of the amendment on August 4, 2004, declaring it constitutional.
The ruling was appealed directly to the Appellate Division, which in 2011 annulled the 13th Amendment.
Following this, the 15th Amendment, which repealed the caretaker government system and introduced several other changes, was passed in Parliament on June 30, 2011, and gazetted on July 3, 2011.
Subsequently, last year, the 15th Amendment was challenged in court by Sujan Secretary Badilul Alam Majumdar and four other eminent citizens. Meanwhile, Mofazzal Hossain filed a petition in October challenging 16 sections of the 15th Amendment. The High Court, after final hearings, on December 17 last year, declared Sections 20 and 21 of the 15th Amendment—related to the abolition of the neutral caretaker government—unconstitutional, along with four other provisions, and reinstated the provision for a public referendum in constitutional amendments.
