Bangladesh (symbolic photo)
Dhaka: The Supreme Court, which had banned about 10 High Court judges this week under pressure from Bangladeshi students, has this time snatched away a major right from the country’s Parliament. This has created panic in Bangladesh. The country’s Supreme Court on Sunday also reinstated the Supreme Judicial Council with the power to investigate allegations of judicial misconduct. The top court also upheld its previous decision, which had declared the 16th Constitutional Amendment “illegal”, under which the right to remove judges was transferred to Parliament. But the Supreme Court has now withdrawn this right from the Parliament.
“The order was passed by a six-member bench of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed,” Supreme Court lawyer Ruhul Quddus, who was present at the hearing, told reporters after the Supreme Court verdict. Quddus said that this decision has strengthened the basic constitutional provisions. The decision also amounts to the repeal of the 16th Constitutional Amendment passed during the rule of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, under which the task of impeaching judges was handed over to Parliament instead of the Supreme Judicial Council comprising Supreme Court judges.
What was the 16th amendment of Bangladesh
Bangladesh’s Sixteenth Amendment was passed in January 2014, which stripped the Supreme Judicial Council of its power to remove judges for incompetence or misconduct. However, in May 2016, a three-member bench of the High Court declared the 16th Amendment unconstitutional, which the government challenged in January 2017. A seven-judge appellate bench led by then Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha had in July 2017 upheld the high court’s decision that had declared the 16th Constitutional Amendment “invalid”. Following the verdict, the then Hasina government filed a petition asking the apex court to review the verdict, which was disposed of with Sunday’s verdict of the apex court.
There was tension between the Supreme Court and Sheikh Hasina regarding this decision.
The 2017 Supreme Court verdict on the matter indirectly brought Sinha into conflict with the then Sheikh Hasina government, forcing him to resign from his post while abroad and since then he has been out of Bangladesh. The student-led movement ended Hasina’s nearly 15-year rule and she had to leave the country on August 5. Four days later, Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus assumed the role of chief advisor to the interim government. Since taking power, the new administration has arrested several ministers and leaders of Hasina’s then government. (Language)
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