Staff Reporter :
The 16th Constitution Amendment Bill 2014, that will re-empower the Parliament to remove the Supreme Court judges, is going to be passed in the Parliament today (Wednesday) despite widespread criticism and opposition from various quarters, including the lawyers.
The bill has been finalised without taking opinions of stakeholders, including political parties and experts, although senior lawyers of the country had earlier asked the government to hold talks with experts in this regard before passing the Amendment Bill.
Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Haque on Tuesday said, “We will pass the bill on Wednesday if everything is fine.” He also said that the bill would be passed with no inclusion and exclusion.
Officials at the law section of the Parliament Secretariat said that all the preparations have been taken to pass the bill.
Meanwhile, Opposition Jatiya Party and other allies of the ruling Awami League have already extended their support to the bill.
On September 7, the Law Minister placed the bill before the Parliament, and then it was sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliament Affairs for scrutinising.
After scrutinising, the Parliamentary Standing Committee placed its report before the House on Sunday. Earlier, the cabinet approved the draft of the bill on August 18.
While presenting the report, Committee Chairman Suranjit Sengupta said, “I want to firmly maintain that this amendment aims only to restore the 1972 Constitution’s spirit, not to further any political gains.”
“The government has taken the initiative of amending the Constitution to restore the provision of Article 96 of the 1972 Constitution, as the then Article 96 allowed the Parliament to remove SC judges for proven misconduct or incapability by a vote of two-thirds majority.”
According to the existing Constitutional provision, Supreme Judicial Council, comprising the Chief Justice and two other senior most judges of the Appellate Division of the apex court, will be formed to investigate allegations of misconduct against any judge and recommend necessary steps to the President. The President will then take steps as per the recommendations.
Although the government has been saying that they are restoring the provision of the 1972 Constitution, senior lawyers observed that draft bill has no similarity with that Constitution. They also said that there are faults in the preamble of the Bill as well as in the whole Bill.
