Defending the draft of the 16th constitutional amendment bill aiming to restore parliament’s authority to impeach Supreme Court judges, Law Commission Chairman Justice ABM Khairul Haque on Monday said the freedom of the judiciary will not be impeded with it.
“There’s no reason to think it’ll harm the freedom of the judiciary,” said Justice Haque, also a former chief justice, at a press briefing at the Law Commission office, referring to the matching system prevailing in many countries, including India and the UK.
He made the remarks after the Cabinet approved the draft of the ‘Constitution (16th amendment) Bill, 2014’ for restoring parliament’s authority to impeach the judges of the Supreme Court for gross misconduct or physical and mental incapacity.
“We should return to the constitution of 1972,” he added.
The Law Commission Chairman said the authority had been given to parliament in the original constitution of 1972 making the provision to impeach the judges of the Supreme Court. It was later deleted with the 5th amendment to the constitution during President Gen Ziaur Rahman’s regime, introducing the formation of the Supreme Judicial Council with the Chief Justice of Bangladesh and two next senior judges for dealing with the case of removal of the apex court judges. Law Commission members Prof Dr Shah Alam and Justice ATM Fazle Kabir were also present at the press briefing.
