The High Court (HC) will deliver its order on March 18 on a writ petition that challenged the legality of Article 70 of the Constitution, which deals with the cancellation of membership of lawmakers for voting against own political party in the Parliament.
The bench of Justice Abu
Taher Md Saifur Rahman fixed the date after concluding hearing arguments on the petition on Sunday.
On January 15, a two-judge HC bench gave a split order on the same petition.
On that day, Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury, Senior Judge of the two-member HC bench, issued a rule on the government, asking as to why the article should not be declared unconstitutional, while Justice Md Ashraful Kamal, the other judge, summarily rejected the petition.
As per rule, after passing the split order, the HC judges send the petition to the Chief Justice for a decision. Then the Chief Justice assigns another HC bench for its hearing and disposal. According to Article 70, a lawmaker has to vacate his or her seat if he or she votes in the Parliament against his/her own party.
“A person elected as a member of Parliament at an election at which he was nominated as a candidate by a political party shall vacate his seat if he- (a) resigns from that party; or (b) votes in Parliament against that party; but shall not thereby be disqualified for subsequent election as a member of Parliament,” said the Article 70.
During hearing on Sunday, writ petitioner Advocate Eunus Ali Akond prayed to the HC to issue a rule asking the government to explain as to why the article should not be declared unconstitutional.
He said, there are instances of scrapping the provisions of the 1972 Constitution through amendment and the Supreme Court verdict.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam vehemently opposed the writ petition, saying that Article 70 cannot be cancelled as it has been incorporated in the original Constitution in 1972.
On April 17 in 2018, Advocate Eunus Ali Akond submitted the writ petition with the HC, challenging the legality of Article 70, saying that it is against democracy and contradicts Articles 7, 19, 26, 27, 44, 31 and 119 of the Constitution.
On August 8 in 2017, the High Court started hearing on the writ petition.
