DHAKA, Oct 17, 2024 (BSS) – Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir in his review petition with the apex court has placed 10 grounds to restore the caretaker government (CG) system.

The 807 page petition was filed with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday seeking a review of the cancellation order of the 13th amendment to the Constitution by the SC to restore the caretaker system.

Senior Advocate of the SC and President of the Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum Advocate Zainul Abedin today briefed newsmen about the review petition on behalf of the petitioner at Shaheed Shafiur Rahman Auditorium at the SC.

Zainul said Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir filed a petition to review the verdict that cancelled the 13th amendment to the Constitution through which the caretaker government system was scrapped.

He said the review petition has suggested 10 logics to revoke the earlier SC order cancelling the 13th amendment to the Constitution.

The grounds include that the brief order (regarding the 13th amendment) of the court had been excluded from the complete verdict after amendment to the Constitution and it was a judicial fraudulence to release the verdict after 18 months of retirement of then Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque.

It was mentioned in the grounds that a criminal case is undergoing over the issue.

The grounds include that the democracy and a free, fair election are like twins where one is meaningless without another and the fair election is the only acceptable medium to establish democracy.

It also said that autocracy was established (after cancellation of the 13 amendment to the Constitution).  
 
In the grounds placed before the apex court to restore the caretaker system also argued that the Constitution is a living deed and its effectiveness will not remain if it cannot meet the demand of time.

The Supreme Court has the responsibilities to explain the Constitution relevantly rather mechanically, it said.

It also said the caretaker government system had been established through the national consensus and for that reasons, the 13th amendment to the Constitution has achieved basic status.

“The Supreme Court doesn’t declare the basic status unconstitutional,” it said.

Earlier on May 10 in 2011, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court declared illegal the 13th amendment to the Constitution that introduced the caretaker government system.

Advocate Zainul Abedin said after cancellation of the caretaker government system the national elections were held in 2014, 2018 and 2024 through unprecedented vote rigging.

“So, the democracy fell flat. Autocracy was established and the fascism sat tight on the nation,” he said.     
 He continued that the fascist government was dislodged through the students-people movement on August 5 last and the former Prime Minister was compelled to flee the country.

“The interim government was formed upon the opinion of the Supreme Court and the people become free and the second independence was achieved,” he said.

Referring to the elections held under the caretaker government system in 191, 1996, 2001 and 2008, the senior SC lawyer said, “The democracy got institutional shape (through the elections under the caretaker government system).”

Zainul said Awami League assumed the office after bagging two-third majorities in the election held on December 29 in 20008.  

The caretaker government system was cancelled in the parliament by the Awami League government prior to deliver the full verdict on cancellation of the 13th amendment to the Constitution, he said.

The full verdict to this end was published later, he said, adding that the released verdict was different to the delivered one which was nothing but to cheat the judiciary.

Speaking on the occasion, Barrister Kayser Kamal said 95 percent of the people believe that the election would be free, fair and neutral under the caretaker government system.

“BNP which is the party of the people has taken the initiative to fulfill the aspirations of the masses,” he said.

Supreme Court Bar Association President Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon, former general secretary Barrister Ruhul Kuddus Kazal, SC Advocate Mohammad Shishier Manir, Vice-President of the Jatiyatabad Ainjibi Forum Golam Mohammad Chowdhury Alal and Advocate Touhidur Rahman were, among others, present.