SC fixes Feb 8 to hear State's appeal challenging verdict declaring 16th Amendment unconstitutional

The Supreme Court has fixed Feb 8 to hear the State's appeal against the verdict, which declared the 16th Amendment as unconstitutional.

On May 5 last year, a three-member High Court bench found the amendment restoring Parliament's power to impeach top court judges as illegal.

The special High Court bench of justices Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury, Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Md Ashraful Kamal passed the order by a majority over a petition by nine lawyers challenging the validity of the amendment.

Justice Chowdhury and Justice Hoque had agreed that the amendment was illegal. Justice Kamal, however, was for dismissing the petition.

The court in the verdict said the ‘parliamentary mechanism’ to remove judges was ‘an accident of history’.

On Thursday, the four-member appeals bench led by the chief justice heard the State's plea, which was filed the previous day.

Munjil Morshed, the counsel of the lawyers who challenged the amendment, said after the hearing:" The matter will be heard by the Appellate Division's full bench on Feb 8."

From petition to verdict

Bangladesh’s Constitution drafted in 1972 had given the MPs the power to impeach judges and decide their term in office. But after the Fourth Amendment in 1975, the power was vested with the president.

The Fifth Amendment, brought on during Gen Ziaur Rahman’s regime, legalised the formation of a Supreme Judicial Council to impeach judges.

Then the 16th Amendment was passed on Sep 17, 2014, allowing Parliament to remove judges by a two-thirds majority on grounds of inefficiency and misconduct.

It was notified by inclusion in the official gazette five days later.

On Apr 25 last year, the Cabinet cleared the draft of a law to address the issues of incompetence and misconduct of top court judges.

On Nov 5, 2014, nine Supreme Court lawyers filed the petition challenging the amendment’s legal basis.

Four days later, the High Court issued a rule asking why the amendment would not be declared unconstitutional.

Hearings on the rule began on May 21, 2015, when the court announced names of five senior lawyers as amici curiae, or friends of court, to hear their opinions on the issue.

Of them, Dr Kamal Hossain, M Amir-ul Islam, Rokanuddin Mahmud and Ajmalul Hossain QC had given their opinions to the court.

After finishing hearing the matter on Mar 10 last year, the court gave its decision on May 5 last year.