16th amendment: Govt yet to finalise review plea

The attorney general’s office is yet to complete the petition in order to seek a review of the Supreme Court verdict that scrapped the 16th amendment from the constitution though the deadline for submitting the plea ends tomorrow.

The government received the certified copy of the verdict on October 10 and according to the SC rules, the review petition has to be filed within 30 days of that date.

“The review petition will not be filed before the end of this month, as we are studying and examining the verdict and the relevant points of the constitution and laws for preparing the grounds on which the Supreme Court may consider the review petition,” Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told The Daily Star today.

Replying to a question, the attorney general said his office is taking time to prepare the grounds of the review petition, as the issue [16th amendment] is a very serious matter.

He also told The Daily Star that the government in the petition will pray to the apex court to restore parliament's power to remove SC judges.

In the full verdict released on August 1, the apex court said the provision of Supreme Judicial Council for the removal of SC judges for misconduct or incapacity has been reinstated in the constitution.

On October 12, Law Minister Anisul Huq told reporters that the government will explain the reasons to the SC, if the deadline was missed.

An 11-member committee, led by the attorney general, was formed in October for filing the review petition.

The SC’s dismissal of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution has been a much talked-about topic among politicians from the ruling party as the SC in its full verdict made some observations, which were critical of the country's present political culture.

The Jatiya Sangsad on September 13 passed a resolution calling for legal steps to nullify the SC verdict.