Report on amendment bill placed in Parliament

The watchdog on law ministry has presented its report to Parliament entailing recommendations on the Bill to restore legislative power to remove top judges.

Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliament Affairs Suranjit Sengupta placed the report on Sunday.

The panel has dropped the Bill's preamble as it deemed it irrelevant. It has also brought some changes to the goals and purposes.

On Sept 7, the 'Constitution (16th Amendment) Bill-2014' was sent to the committee for a week-long scrutiny after Law Minister Anisul Huq tabled it.

The minister had hinted earlier that the Bill might be passed during the current session of Parliament.

The amendment pending with Parliament requires that a law be introduced to guide the investigation and gathering of evidence of incapability or misconduct of a judge.

The preamble of the Bill had described the backgrounds - how the power to remove judges went to the Supreme Judicial Council from Parliament.

The parliamentary committee dropped it and maintained that Article 96 of the Constitution was more appropriate and necessary.

Law Minister Huq has assured that the law will be formulated within three months of the amendment.

While presenting the report on Sunday, Suranjit Sengupta said, "I want to maintain strongly that this amendment aims only to restore the 1972 Constitution's spirit, not to further any political gains."

"But it is sad when we see that a quarter is using the word impeachment on purpose to confuse the people. I want to make it clear that this (impeachment) is not applicable in reality," he added.

The BNP, which boycotted the last general election and is now out of Parliament, alleges the government is pushing through the bill to impose itself on the judiciary.

The first Constitution of Bangladesh in 1972 gave Parliament the jurisdiction to settle the tenure of top judges and decide about their removal.

The president was then vested with the power through the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution in 1974.

After military ruler Ziaur Rahman usurped state power, the Fourth Amendment was annulled and a Supreme Judicial Council was formed following an order to enforce the impeachment rule, which is still in effect.