The government is unlikely to respond to the call of the lawyers of the Supreme Court who had strongly opposed to the government’s much-talked-about move to re-empower Parliament to remove the SC judges through the 16th Amendment to the Constitution.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law, and Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry on Wednesday, a day after the SC lawyers’ call for not passing the bill without consultation with the concerned quarters, finished its review of the bill without holding any talks with any quarter.
Suranjit Sen Gupta, chairman of the standing committee, who had earlier spoken of holding talks with the judiciary and political parties on the issue, said that there is no need for discussions. They won’t take opinions from the jurists or the experts in this regard. The Amendment Bill will be passed soon, he said.
The Awami League senior leader was addressing a Press briefing at the Media Centre in the Parliament building following a meeting of the standing committee. He said that the committee has done an analysis of the bill and the committee, which is now scrutinising the bill,
would submit its report to the Parliament within today if possible.
Suranjit also said that they would recommend replacing some words to ensure similarity with the 1972 Constitution.
Earlier, Law Minister Anisul Huq after the meeting told the journalists that the experts won’t be invited in the Parliamentary Committee regarding
the Amendment Bill. He said that the bill will be passed in the current session and a law will be enacted on the removal of judges within three months after the passing of the Bill. The opinions of the experts will be considered that time, he said.
About the All-Party Unity Council, the Minister said that the citizens of a democratic country have the right to express their opinions. So, the formation of the committee is not violation of the law, as Bangladesh is a democratic country. So, the lawyers can form such committee, he added.
Meanwhile, Although Jatiya Party who earlier declared that it would oppose the Bill, now declared to support the proposed Amendment Bill.
Jatiya Party MP Ziaul Haque Mridha, who also attended the Press briefing, said that they wanted to oppose the bill but after the review, they found that the Bill was correct. So, they won’t oppose the Bill in the House. He said that the judges have to bring under accountably and for this the government’s move in this regard is correct.
On September, Law Minister tabled the 16th Constitution Amendment Bill before the Parliament. The Speaker forwarded the Bill to the standing committee for vetting.
