No legal basis of caretaker govt verdict

The Supreme Court Bar Association yesterday demanded restoration of the caretaker government system claiming the judgment, which scrapped the provision, was illegal and unconstitutional.

The SCBA made the call a day after Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha said a judge's act of writing a judgment after his retirement goes against the law and the constitution.

“Some judges make unusual delays in writing verdicts while others continue to write it even long after their retirement, which goes against the law and the constitution,” the CJ said in a message on Tuesday.

SCBA President Khandker Mahbub Hossain said a Supreme Court bench, led by then chief justice ABM Khairul Haque, had declared the caretaker government system unconstitutional.

The former CJ had signed the judgment 16 months after his retirement, and therefore, that verdict “has no constitutional basis and is illegal”, he told a press conference at the SCBA Auditorium.

The previous Awami League government had abolished the caretaker government provision through the 15th amendment to the constitution on the basis of this “illegal judgment”, added Mahbub, also an adviser to the BNP chairperson.

The president of the SCBA, dominated by pro-BNP lawyers, said they had repeatedly stated that writing a judgment after retirement was unconstitutional and it had now become clear following the CJ's statement.

Cancellation of the caretaker government system and holding the national election under the ruling party were the reasons for the present political crisis and violence in the country, said the lawyer.

Despite making several attempts, this newspaper could not reach Justice ABM Khairul Haque over the phone for his comment.

However, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told The Daily Star that the SCBA's demand was politically motivated. “There is nothing unconstitutional in writing verdicts by retired judges because they are under oath when they announce the verdict.”

The chief justice “perhaps made the comment in the present context as a few judges are making delays in writing judgments”, he added.