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Published : 20 Nov 2025, 08:52 PM
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has described the verdict issued by former chief justice ABM Khairul Haque, which scrapped the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, as “tainted”.
It made the remark on Thursday while delivering its ruling that declared the earlier verdict invalid and reinstated the non-partisan caretaker government system for election periods.
A full seven-member bench headed by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed delivered the judgement.
Although this ruling automatically restores the caretaker government system to the constitution, the upcoming general elections will be held under the interim government, lawyers said.
The caretaker administration system will take effect from the 14th parliamentary
elections.
The non-partisan caretaker government was first introduced in 1996 through the 13th Amendment during the BNP government.
Under the Awami League government in 2011, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court struck down the 13th Amendment, effectively abolishing the caretaker system.
After the fall of the Awami League government, when a petition was filed to review the 2011 verdict, the Supreme Court decided to hear the appeal anew.
On Thursday, the Appellate Division delivered a unanimous verdict, granting both the appeal and the review.
In the verdict, the Supreme Court said the Appellate Division’s decision from 14 years earlier was “clearly defective with multiple errors”. That verdict was fully overturned.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir’s lawyer Ruhul Quddus Kazal said, “Democracy is part of the Constitution’s basic structure, as are the non-partisan caretaker government system and the people's right to vote.
“This fundamental structure cannot be altered, and we believe that by reinstating the caretaker government system, the Constitution’s basic structure has been properly upheld.”
Badiul Alam Majumdar’s lawyer Sharif Bhuiyan said, “The autocratic system in Bangladesh over the past 15 years began with the verdict issued under justice Khairul Haque’s leadership.
“It was an extremely flawed ruling, filled with numerous errors – worse than any verdict that could have been written.
“This judgement was poorly drafted, riddled with legal mistakes, and deliberately so. As a result, an authoritarian system was established in Bangladesh.”
He added that the verdict also “undermined the independence of the judiciary”.
