The National Parliament [Jatiya Sangsad] will be empowered again to impeach the judges of the Supreme Court for misconduct or incapacity. The cabinet on Monday approved the ‘Constitution [16th Amendment] Act, 2014′ which would ultimately allow the JS to bring impeachment proposal against the SC judges restoring its previous authority.The approval came at a regular meeting of the cabinet at Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.The 15th amendment to the Constitution was made on June 30, 2011.Once the 16th amendment is done, the existing Supreme Judicial Council will be abolished automatically. However, it would need the votes of a two-third majority in the JS to impeach the judges for misconduct or incapacity. Besides, it would also need the order of the President to execute the impeachment move.”The government has given final approval to amend [16th amendment] the Constitution. In this regard, the final draft was passed in the regular Cabinet meeting,” Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said at a press briefing at Secretariat after the meeting.He said, “There are consistencies of Article 54, 74 [ga] and 57[2] with the Article 96 of the 72’ Constitution. But the existing Supreme Judicial Council is contradictory to Article 7 of the Constitution. So, the previous Article to be restored.””Government also thinks that the Supreme Judicial Council could not work properly because its neutrality and accuracy for the impeachment raised questions….The Council members and accused judges work together in the same institution, which is another obligation to it,” said the cabinet secretary.Officials said the yesterday’s Cabinet meeting raised some important issues. It said the President of the Republic could be impeached through two-third majority in the JS as per Article 54 of the Constitution and the Speaker could be impeached with simple majority of JS members as per article 74 [ga].Apart from it, the 57 [2] article of Constitution has given power to bring no-confidence motion against the Prime Minister with simple majority of the parliament members. Then why not the JS would get the authority to impeach SC judges, the Cabinet raised question.Meanwhile, Law Minister Barrister Anisul Hoque said his ministry would complete the procedure to place the draft as a bill in the next session of the parliament scheduled to begin on September 1.”The Martial Law proclamation cancelled article 96 of the Constitution. It is contradictory to the article 7 of the Constitution. And so, the Supreme Judicial Council is also contradictory to the Constitution. It will no more exist,” the Law Minister explained.Bangladesh Law Commission has also expressed its favor of the amendment proposal brought by the Cabinet. “The freedom of judiciary will not be compromised if the JS is empowered to impeach SC judges. Several countries such as UK, the US and India have the same provision,” Law Commission Chairman ABM Khairul Haque said yesterday.Earlier, the Article 96 of the 1972 Constitution had allowed JS to impeach Supreme Court judges. In early 1975, the Awami League-led government through the fourth constitutional amendment conferred the power on the President.Later, President Ziaur Rahman in 1978 cancelled the provision bringing the fifth amendment in the Constitution and forming the Supreme Judicial Council. Zia formed the Supreme Judicial Council through a martial law proclamation when there was no parliament following the assassination of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975.The Council was formed with the chief justice and two other senior most judges of the Appellate Division. It got authority to conduct investigation against any SC judge and send recommendations to the President for impeachment.However, after a longtime legal debate, the High court in a historic verdict pronounced the Fifth Amendment illegal, where the Supreme Judicial Council also had lost its validity, although the article was not restored in the meantime.It is to be recalled that some parliament members demanded the removal of a High Court judge in 2012. The JS and judiciary had locked in a quarrel with issuing series of comments and counter-comments following the remark of the then Speaker Md Abdul Hamid, who is now President.
