President Md Abdul Hamid has signed into law the 16th Amendment, empowering Parliament to sack Supreme Court judges. His endorsement came five days after the bill was passed by the MPs, Parliament Secretariat officials said on Monday. The BNP, enforcing a dawn-to-dusk strike against the constitutional change on Monday, had urged the president not to sign the bill and send it back to Parliament for further review. Parliament Secretariat officials said a gazette was in the process of being released after the president’s approval. Once published, it will culminate the process of turning into law the Constitution (16th Amendment) Bill-2014. The MPs will be now able to remove judges if allegations of ‘incapability or misconduct’ against them are proved, a power lawmakers enjoyed for just four years after Bangladesh emerged as an independent state. The prospect of forming a Supreme Judicial Council for removing judges is now abolished. The Awami League-led government had brought the 15th Amendment to scrap the system of holding national elections under a caretaker government in 2011. It initiated the latest amendment nine months after coming to power for a second consecutive term. The bill, tabled in Parliament on Sept 7 after the Cabinet approved it on Aug 18, was passed last Wednesday amid strong opposition from BNP which is no longer in Parliament as it boycotted the Jan 5 election. The Awami League enjoys absolute majority in Parliament with Jatiya Party as main opposition with just 34 seats. The BNP has been accusing the ruling party headed by Sheikh Hasina of ‘trying to grab hold of the judiciary’. Its leaders also threatened to annul all amendments brought in by the incumbent government. But Suranjit Sengupta, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliament Affairs, has been saying that the BNP and a section of lawyers were criticising it without a clear understanding of the issue. “We are only restoring an article of the 1972 Constitution. Parliament won’t impeach or remove judges. It will only approve results of investigations finding them guilty,” he had said. Back to Parliament Through this latest amendment, the power to remove judges has returned to Parliament after 40 years. The first Constitution of Bangladesh in 1972 had given Parliament the jurisdiction to settle the tenure of top judges and decide about their removal. In 1975, the president was vested with the power through the Fourth Amendment. After Ziaur Rahman began his military rule, he revoked this amendment and formed a Supreme Judicial Council following an order to enforce the impeachment rule. The issue of reviving this authority came into focus after the Awami League took office in the last term. The matter was also discussed in 2011 when the 15th Amendment to the Constitution was underway, although the article was not restored. In 2012, some MPs called for the removal of a High Court judge after a series of events around the remark of the then speaker and current President Md Abdul Hamid. At that time, the demand for restoring the legislative power to remove judges got serious backing. After it was tabled in Parliament on Sept 7, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliament Affairs was given a week to screen the bill and submit a report. The committee submitted its report with recommendations on Sunday. It also dropped the bill’s ‘long’ preamble and brought changes to the goals and purposes. –bdnews24.com
