Bangladesh News

Major (retd) Jasim Uddin, whose candidacy in the ninth parliamentary election was declared illegal by the Supreme Court, joined six sittings of the last session of the House ignoring a constitutional provision, legal experts said.

Citing constitutional provision, legal experts said Jasim is now liable to a penalty of Tk 1,000 for each sitting he joined, as he clearly knew that he is disqualified for membership of parliament following the SC verdict.

According to article 69 of the constitution, if a person sits or votes as a member of parliament when he knows that he is not qualified or is disqualified for membership thereof, he shall be liable in respect of each day on which he so sits or votes to a penalty of one thousand taka to be recovered as a debt due to the Republic.

The Appellate Division of the SC on October 18 rejected Jasim’s leave to appeal petition against the High Court verdict that declared illegal the Election Commission’s (EC) decision to allow Jasim to contest parliamentary election.

He was ineligible to contest the December 29 parliamentary polls since five years were not over since the date of his compulsory retirement from army.

But after the judgement, Jasim, who was elected from Bhola-3 constituency on Awami League, joined the House sittings on October 29, November 1,2,3,4 and 5 in its third session, according to the attendance register.

He also participated in the House proceedings during question-answer hour and disposal of call attention notices. The third session was prorogued on November 5.

“After the verdict of the Appellate Division, he [Jasim] clearly knew that he was no longer a member of parliament. His conduct is tantamount to violation of article 69 of the Constitution,” eminent jurist Shahdeen Malik said.

Respect for rule of law should have led him not to attend parliament sittings, he told The Daily Star when contacted.

Officials in the parliament secretariat also questioned legality of Jasim’s participation in the House proceedings after the SC verdict. “Jasim Uddin should not have joined parliament sittings showing respect to constitutional provision,” a senior official said.

But Jasim claimed that he joined the House sittings in consultation with the speaker. “I contacted the speaker and he told me that I will remain a member of parliament until a gazette notification is issued vacating my seat,” Jasim said when contacted yesterday.

“I am still a member of parliament since the gazette notification has not been issued,” he said.

The speaker however could not be contacted for his comment.

Following the SC verdict, Jasim held a press conference on October 22. “I am thinking about taking actions against the Election Commission when I get a copy of the verdict,” he said.

Asked about the matter, Suranjit Sengupta, chief of the parliamentary standing committee on law, justice and parliamentary affairs, said Jasim ought to have refrained from attending parliament sittings.

He also said something has to be done now to implement the SC judgement.

Following the SC judgement, the advocate-on-record on October 19 issued a certificate saying that the apex court rejected the leave to appeal petition of Jasim, and so the order of the HC has been upheld.

On receipt of a copy of the certificate, the EC has decided to ask the parliament secretariat to take necessary measures to this effect.