UNB :
Law Minister Anisul Huq on Wednesday placed the Bangladesh Legal Practitioners and Bar Council (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021 with a provision of allowing the government to form an ad-hoc committee for a maximum one-year tenure to arrange the Bar Council election in an unusual situation.
It was approved by the Cabinet on July 26 and later the President promulgated the Ordinance on July 28.
The ordinance was promulgated as Parliament was not there in session at that time. As per rules, the ordinance was placed in Parliament on the first day of the session for its approval.
As per the ordinance, if the regular Bar Council election can’t be held by May 31 after every three years, the government can form a 15-member ad-hoc committee for a maximum one year.
In the existing Bangladesh Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Order, 1972, there is no alternative provision, if the regular election cannot be arranged in time due to any natural disaster or something else like ‘acts of God’.
It said, elections to the Bar Council shall always be held so as to conclude on or before the [thirty first day of May] in the year in which the term of the Bar Council expires.
As per the new Ordinance, elections to the Bar Council shall be held so as to conclude on or before the thirty first day of May in the year in which the term of the Bar Council expires.
