Process starts to pass 16th Amendment to Constitution

The procedure to pass the Bill to revive Parliament’s power to investigate and remove Supreme Court judges through a constitutional amendment has begun in Parliament.

Law Minister Anisul Huq around 7:40pm Wednesday placed the ‘Constitution (16th Amendment) Bill-2014’ with proposal for consideration to give it passage with Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Opposition Leader Raushon Ershad and Jatiya Party chief HM Ershad are attending the proceedings.

According to the rules of procedure, the bill will be passed first by voice vote of the MPs and then through division vote.

Before that, the speaker will first put the opinions and amendment proposals to voice vote.

The full procedure to pass the 16th Amendment Bill will take approximately one and a half hours.

Parliament had spent nearly three hours to pass the 15th Amendment to the Constitution on June 30, 2011.

The 16th Amendment requires introduction of a law to guide the investigation and gathering of evidence on incapability or misconduct of a judge. The judge will be sacked if the accusations are proved.

Through this latest amendment, the power to remove judges is returning to Parliament after 40 years.

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

Two years later, the president was vested with the power through the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution in 1975.

After Ziaur Rahman began his military rule, the Fourth Amendment was revoked and a Supreme Judicial Council was formed following an order to enforce the impeachment rule, which is still in effect.

The Awami League-led Grand Alliance government had brought the 15th Amendment in 2011. The Awami League is now bringing the latest amendment nine months after coming to power for a second consecutive term.

The ‘Constitution (16th Amendment) Bill-2014’ was tabled in Parliament on Sept 7.

After a gazette is published following the president’s approval, the amendment will become a part of the Constitution.

The BNP and many senior lawyers have been criticising the government move to change the charter.

The BNP, which boycotted the last general election and is now out of Parliament, alleges the government is pushing through the bill to keep the judiciary under perpetual pressure.

But Suranjit Sengupta, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliament Affairs, has been saying that the BNP and senior lawyers were criticising without having any clear understanding of the issue and were creating confusion.

“We are only restoring an article of the 1972 Constitution. Parliament won’t impeach or remove judges. It will only approve results of investigations finding them guilty.”