Dr Kamal Hossain has questioned the purpose of the 16th Constitutional Amendment that aims to restore Parliament’s power to remove judges.
He has claimed the government is trying to complete the process hurriedly.
“I don’t understand why [the government is] trying to pass the amendment bill at a supersonic speed?” he wondered at the BBC Sanglap on Saturday.
“Why is there so much haste when the law will be enacted three months later?” asked Kamal.
The 16th Amendment Bill has been tabled in Parliament and is expected to be pushed through in the current session.
Kamal, member of the committee that outlined Bangladesh’s first Constitution, has been against the move since the beginning.
His efforts to ‘thwart’ the amendment with fellow lawyers crumbled. Attorney General Mahbubey Alam criticised him for siding with lawyers defending suspected war criminals.
“Holding talks over the amendment was necessary,” Kamal said, adding that although a law is supposed to be enacted after the amendment, no draft has been made so far.
The former Awami League leader claimed the party was taking every decision.
The parliamentary committee that is scrutinising the bill went back on its promise to consult the stakeholders during review process.
Awami League MP and former law minister Abdul Matin Khasru, replying to Kamal’s question, talked about the bill in detail.
He said the bill was restoring Article 96 of the 1972 Constitution. “Why is he (Kamal) questioning it now?” asked Khasru.
But BNP chief’s advisor Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury criticised the initiative.
“Whatever little freedom the judiciary has will be scrapped forever through this amendment,” he claimed.
The BNP, which boycotted the Jan 5 national polls, claims the ruling party wants to impose itself on the judiciary, a charge the Awami League denies.
Source: bdnews24
