15th Amendment: Final verdict from the Appellate Division may come in mid-July

As most of the justices on the bench have heard the case before and a justice is retiring soon, the lawyer for the petitioners expects a swift verdict

The final verdict in the appeal filed challenging the validity of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution may come in mid-July, hopes Dr Sharif Bhuiyan, the lawyer representing the petitioner in the case.

The hearing of the case resumed after more than six months at the bench headed by Chief Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury in the Appellate Division on Monday.

Attorney General Ruhul Quddus Kazal and Deputy Attorney General Aneek R Haque represented the state at the hearing, while Sharif represented the appellants.

After the hearing, Sharif told reporters: "One of the judges of the current bench will retire in mid-July. Therefore, we hope that the court will conclude the hearing and announce the verdict before then."

The hearing of the much-discussed case, directly tied to Bangladesh's electoral system, had previously begun under the tenure of then chief justice Syed Refaat Ahmed. The case was deferred near the end of his term.

Sharif said, "Since this bench has started the hearing, this bench has to finish it. It has to be finished by Jul 13-14, because after that, an honourable judge will retire. If there is no verdict before that honourable judge retires, this entire hearing will be in vain, like last time."

"We hope that the court will also be 'eager' to resolve the matter quickly."

The final disposition of writs filed by Dr Badiul Alam Majumdar, editor of Citizens for Good Governance (SHUJAN), and others is currently being heard simultaneously at the Appellate Division. Another writ was filed by Jamaat-e-Islami and a third appeal has been filed by another lawyer.

Stating that he will conclude his arguments by Tuesday, Sharif said: "We understand from the disposition of the court that they want to finish it very quickly. They have heard it in detail once before, so they remember a lot of it. If we can remind them briefly, they want to give a quick verdict."

Calling the 15th Amendment a 'rewriting of the Constitution', he said: "This has changed the fundamental character of the Constitution. It needs to be repealed so that such anti-people amendments do not happen again in the future and the democratic aspirations of the people are not thwarted."

The High Court Division had previously partially repealed the 15th Amendment and partially reinstated the caretaker government system. However, the writ petitioners have appealed to the Appellate Division to repeal the entire amendment.

Sharif said, "The High Court Division did not repeal [the 15th Amendment] in its entirety. We will submit here that it should be repealed in its entirety. However, if the entire amendment is repealed, some problems may arise, in which case the court can provide protection. We will also speak about those matters."

On Monday, he presented arguments in court on why the 15th Amendment was unconstitutional. The lawyer said that he would summarise the outcome of the repeal and make his final plea to the court on Tuesday.