Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday filed a petition with the Appellate Division seeking a review of the court’s 2011 verdict that declared the non-party caretaker government system unconstitutional.
Justice Md Rezaul Haque of 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.
In his petition, Fakhrul called for the restoration of the caretaker government system, his lawyer, Shishir Manir, confirmed to New Age.
This action comes in the wake of the student-led uprising that ousted Sheikh Hasina government on August 5, leading to her flight to India and the subsequent formation of an interim government under professor Muhammad Yunus on August 8.
Shishir Manir further noted that five citizens—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—also filed similar petitions. These are set to be heard once the court reopens on October 20.
The Appellate Division, led by former Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque, had declared the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which introduced the non-party caretaker government system, unconstitutional in a landmark 2011 judgment.
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.
In the full text of his verdict, delivered after his retirement on September 16, 2012, Justice Khairul Haque retracted his earlier observation that two further elections could be held under the caretaker system.
The verdict cancelling the 13th Amendment came following a 1999 writ by Supreme Court lawyer M Salimullah challenging its legality.
The High Court initially dismissed the writ on August 4, 2004, but the verdict was challenged at the Appellate Division in 2005.
Fakhrul’s lawyer Shishir stated in the petition that the 2011 judgment significantly undermined the democratic and constitutional rights of citizens, resulting in flawed elections in 2014, 2018, and 2024, and depriving citizens of their right to free and fair elections.
New Age
