DEPUTY Speaker Advocate Fazle Rabbi Mia on Tuesday said the order of the Appellate Division of Bangladesh Supreme Court barring MPs from becoming head of the governing bodies of private schools and colleges has exceeded the jurisdiction of the apex court. We know that he was speaking replying to a question of a ruling party MP but in our view his comment in support of the MP’s claim that the order of the apex court has crossed the legal limit is not acceptable by any means. In fact by taking side the Deputy Speaker has demeaned and ignored the powers of the court and created controversy that is not desirable with an independent judiciary. The MP’s observation and the Deputy Speaker’s endorsement of the observation that such order has infringed privilege of all other MPs is not justified. The highest court’s order deserves respect of the lawmakers. The lawmakers must also be aware that they cannot act against public interest. The Supreme Court two weeks ago upheld a High Court verdict declaring illegal the provisions that allow lawmakers to become head of governing bodies of private schools and colleges as per their desire. A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha passed “no order” on two petitions seeking a stay on the HC verdict. The court gave the order banning MPs from capturing chair of the private school and college bodies as they like while giving verdict in a case involving the critical situation to a particular academic institution. We don’t know why MPs should be chairman of schools and colleges when many of them are totally corrupt and are not even graduate and known to be scandalous in politics. In our view responsibility of the lawmakers is to deal with national policies and not assert power in local matters. The prestige and honour of MPs depend on their own honesty and dedication in the service of the people and not on how much control they want over running schools and colleges.
