Staff Reporter :
No minister’s position becomes vacant unless the formalities of the Article 58 of the Constitution are complied with. No claim has been made to the effect that before advising the President to terminate Mr Latif Siddiqui’s appointment as minister the Prime Minister requested Mr. Siddiqui to offer his resignation. It is the constitutional obligation for the Prime Minister to request Mr Siddiqui to resign. Without first making such request by the Prime Minister to resign, the President cannot act on the advice of the Prime Minister to end Mr. Siddiqui’s appointment as minister.
Mr Latif Siddiqui is still going on telling that he will be obliged to do everything the Prime Minister desires. He has not said that he received any such desire from the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asking him to resign.
Knowledgeable circle asserts that the constitutional position is very clear. Termination of Mr Siddiqui as minister will not be found constitutionally valid in term of Article 58 of the Constitution unless such a request was made to Mr Latif Siddiqui. In the facts and circumstances many people find the whole affair surrounding Mr Latif is both mysterious and puzzling.
In the same way unnecessary controversy is going on about his membership of the Parliament. It is feared that not to take the Constitution seriously has become a kind of way for the government, observed some constitutional experts.
There is a Law Ministry to help the government whether such a ministry is needed or not. That itself has become a troubling question.
