Bangladesh News

Immediate past caretaker government and president Iajuddin Ahmed have ignored the Supreme Court’s (SC) directives by repealing at least nine laws enacted by the previous parliaments, the special committee of the Jatiya Sangsad said.

The committee’s report, placed in the House yesterday, however dropped the charge of violation of the constitution in forming the immediate past caretaker government.

In its draft report, a copy of which was obtained by The Daily Star, the committee had said formation of the caretaker government and many of the powers it exercised were unconstitutional.

The report now specified how the immediate past president repealed many acts of parliament by promulgating ordinances as per decisions of the then council of advisers to the caretaker government led by Fakhruddin Ahmed.

And it said there are SC directives that the acts of parliament cannot be repealed by promulgating ordinances.

Legal experts said the apex court gave the directives upholding constitutional provisions, and ignoring these directives amounts to violation of the constitution.

The special committee itself however did not make any comment on whether the SC directives were ignored or not. But the list of ordinances tagged with its report shows at least 9 laws were repealed during the tenure of the caretaker government.

The caretaker government repealed Upazila Parishad Act 1998, Insurance Act 1998, Merchandise Marks Act 1989, Trade Marks Act 1940, Money Laundering Prevention Act 2002, Sylhet City Corporation Act 2001, Barisal City Corporation Act 2001, Rajshahi City Corporation Act 1987 and Gram Sarkar Act 2003, and had new ordinances promulgated on them excepting the controversial Gram Sarkar.

It also repealed some ordinances including Bangla Academy Ordinance 1978, Electoral Roll Ordinance 1982, Khulna City Corporation Ordinance 1983, Dhaka City Corporation Ordinance 1983, Chittagong City Corporation Ordinance 1982, Paurasava Ordinance 1977 and Union Parishad Ordinance 1983, and new ordinances were promulgated on them.

Examining the caretaker government’s jurisdiction under Article 58 (D) of the constitution, and the president’s authority under Article 93 of the constitution to promulgate ordinances during the tenure of the caretaker government, the committee said, “The committee firmly believes that the non-partisan caretaker government is an interim government and during the tenure of the caretaker government, the president can only promulgate ordinances subject to the conditions laid down in Article 93 of the constitution.”

According to Article 58 (D) of the Constitution, the caretaker government will carry out routine work and provide all out assistance to the Election Commission to hold free fair parliamentary elections.

But the immediate past caretaker government promulgated as many as 119 ordinances during its two-year tenure.

Earlier, three ordinances were promulgated by the president at the fag end of the BNP-led alliance government’s tenure in 2006.

Participating in the special committee meeting, constitutional experts suggested ratifying only 31 ordinances and repeal the others as they said promulgation of those ordinances was extra-constitutional.

The experts however suggested that the committee recommend ratification of such ordinances which are aimed at serving public interests and non-ratification of which might create problems concerning activities during the caretaker government’s tenure although those were extra-constitutional.

Justifying its recommendations for ratification of 54 ordinances in parliament, the special committee in its report said it recommended ratifying 54 ordinances out of 122 considering Article 58 (D) and Article 93 of the constitution, experts’ opinion, public importance, and continuation of government.

There is no logic to recommend ratification of the 68 other ordinances, it said.