BNP seeks selection of chief justice from among multiple senior judges

Salahuddin says the party has agreed with the Consensus Commission on “most” of the reform proposals

The BNP has sought the inclusion of “at least two-three of the most senior judges” in the process of appointing chief justice instead of automatically preferring the senior-most judge of the Appellate Division.

Salahuddin Ahmed, a member of the party's Standing Committee, said this during a break in a meeting with the National Consensus Commission on Tuesday.

He said, "Their (Consensus Commission) proposal was that the senior-most of the Appellate Division should be the next chief justice."

"Our suggested there should be at least one option in this case. At least two to three of the senior-most judges should be included in the options."

The BNP’s proposal had not yet been accepted, and discussions were under way, said Salahuddin.

Explaining the rationale for the proposal, Salahuddin said: “The state has experienced some disharmony before. If we set it in all areas, if there is no option… in future, since we want to ensure the full independence of the judiciary.”

“In that case, if some judges become chief justices like before, it will not be beneficial for the state.”

BNP AGAINST HC BENCHES AT DIVISIONAL LEVEL

Salahuddin said, “We’ve had talks about decentralisation of the Supreme Court. Their [commission] proposal is that permanent benches should be set up in the divisions. As you know, the Eighth Amendment was made during the time of HM Ershad.

“The provision that was brought in the constitution for the decentralisation of the Supreme Court was declared unconstitutional.”

He said, “The permanent bench of the Supreme Court’s High Court division does not fit with the basic structure of the Constitution and is contradictory. Since there is wisdom behind cancelling it, we have said that there is a provision in Article 100 for the establishment of circuit benches, to make it a mandate.

“We can make a provision or a subsection in the Constitution for the judiciary. So that an obligation can be imposed here to establish the required number of circuit benches every year to carry out the same function.”

The BNP leader said, “They have proposed the Supreme Judicial Appointment or Judicial Appointment Commission. We agree with it in principle. We said that it would have to be discussed in parliament.

“It will be necessary to add a new provision to the Constitution, [to specify] what rules and regulations will have to be made for appointment in the Supreme Court and High Court. We are not discussing this here now.”

Salahuddin said, "We are committed to ensuring the complete independence of the judiciary, but want to do everything legally and constitutionally."

He said, "The Consensus Commission has proposed that the qualifications for appointing judges include university law professors.

"We have said that this issue is either a proposed law or the law that we are trying to make now, the Judges Appointment Ordinance, which is now being challenged in the High Court for different reasons, can be made into a law when it is resolved. However, we agree in principle on this issue."

At 11:10am on Tuesday, the BNP met with the Consensus Commission for the third day to discuss the reform proposals drafted by five reform commissions under the interim government.

A four-member delegation led by BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed took part in the talks. BNP Advisory Council member Ismail Zabihullah, Executive Committee member Barrister Ruhul Quddus Kazal, and former secretary Abu Md Moniruzzaman Khan are the other members of the delegation.

Ali Riaz, vice chairman of the commission, presided over the meeting. Commission members Badiul Alam Majumdar, retired justice Emdadul Haque, Iftekharruzzaman and special assistant to the chief advisor Monir Haider are also in attendance.

MAKING ALL COMMISSIONS CONSTITUTIONAL

Salahuddin said, "[The commission] has proposed to turn several institutions into constitutional commissions. They have called for the creation of a Human Rights Commission, an Anti-Corruption Commission and another commission that does not yet exist, the Local Government Commission. We have said that if each commission is constitutionally recognised and included in the constitution, it will make things more complex.

“The institutions should remain as they are being run under the existing law.”

REFERENDUM

Salahuddin said, “We have said before that referendums will not be held on all issues. There are some articles of constitutional amendment, in the case of fundamental rights, Articles-8,48,56 and 142, which state different ways of amending the constitution. The Awami League government cancelled the referendum to change these.”

He said that referendums should not be held on issues other than those on which the verdict in favour of the referendum was passed for the 15th Amendment.

“However, we kept a provision... We have proposed that if in the future the parliament wants to keep the provision of the referendum for changes in some other articles, it is a matter for the future parliament.”

BALANCE OF POWER: PM AND PRESIDENT

Salahuddin said, “For the executive division, the cabinet led by the prime minister is actually a technical matter… the government will be run by the cabinet’s authority. That is the previous provision. Here we can say we do not agree.

“And to increase the power of the president, we will propose another new article after Subsection 3 of Article 48. This section will detail what powers can be delegated to the president and what functions the president can perform without discussing with the prime minister, there will be many issues. We are not disclosing them at this moment. It seems that they (the commission) have accepted that fairly.

“Here, we are committed to bringing a balance between the powers of the prime minister and the president of the state, to establish a balanced government and state system.”

‘PM SHOULD NOT HOLD 3 POSITIONS’

Salahuddin said, “The prime minister should not have three roles -- prime minister, party chief and parliamentary leader. The party with the majority decides who the prime minister will be. It is not necessary that the person has to be the party chief, there are many such examples.”

Speaking about the tradition of the prime minister standing as the parliamentary leader, he spoke about “precedents of some countries having a separate parliamentary leader”.

“In those cases, the parliamentary leader has no executive power, the parliament does not lead any ministry in running the state. But here, the parliamentary leader and the prime minister are inseparable.”

BNP leaders have disagreed with the Consensus Commission’s proposal on the National Constitution Council (NCC), the term of both houses of parliament, raising the minimum age of MPs to 21 years, the election method for reserved seats for women, among other matters.

He said, "We have agreed on most of the commission's recommendations. Now some issues need deeper analysis."

"Although there is an agreement in principle about MPs not holding any positions in any government and autonomous institutions in the local government, it deserves to be discussed by some length in parliament," he said.