Law
Week
Acting CEC bins NDI claim of excess voters
Acting Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice Mahfuzur Rahman said the Election Commission (EC) does not agree with the National Democratic Institute's (NDI) survey report claim that there are 1.22 crore names registered in the voter list which are either excess or duplicates. "We do not agree with the claim," the acting CEC said while talking to journalists at his office after an NDI team along with US Ambassador to Bangladesh Patricia Butenis met him to deliver their survey report. The US ambassador told journalists that there are excess voters in the voter list but most of them are due to migration and there is absolutely no indication that the excess voters are on the roll due to fraud or manipulation. The US based organisation NDI's Residential Director Owen Lippert said, "A transparent voters' list would be part of an acceptable election." "I thought it was crucial that we had spent time with the Election Commission because the survey result is quite encouraging," Butenis told the awaiting newsmen after meeting with the CEC. "The credibility of the voters' list is the key issue now," she said, adding, "The NDI and we are interested to work with the Election Commission on this voters' list."The NDI on unveiled the survey report where they said 1.22 crore names registered in the updated voter list are either excess or duplicates. --The Daily Star, December 4.
Advisers decide to recast EC, polls schedule rearrange and voter list corrected
The council of advisers to the caretaker government decided to have the Election Commission (EC) recast and transfer secretaries of some ministries that are considered to have an important bearing on the conduct of election. In a significant breakthrough in the efforts to resolve the long-drawn-out political crisis, they have already asked the EC to rearrange the election schedule and correct the voter list so that all parties take part in the polls. The advisers said they did not take the decisions under any pressure from any quarters. BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan said they will comment on the advisers' decisions and measures after hearing about those formally. On the other hand, the Awami League (AL) led 14-party combine at an emergency meeting suspended its blockade programmes. However, it neither rejected nor accepted the package of proposals set forth by the advisers. It has decided to observe the implementation of the advisory council's decisions. The decisions came at an hours-long meeting of the advisory council with President and Chief Adviser Iajuddin Ahmed in the chair at the Bangabhaban. The president/chief adviser himself will initiate the move to send two controversial election commissioners -- SM Zakaria and Modabbir Hossain Chowdhury -- on leave until the next parliamentary election is over, said meeting sources. -- The Daily Star, December 5
Tk 66 lakh arrear phone bill
Dhaka court summons Ershad, 18 ex-MPs
A Dhaka court directed Jatiya Party (JP) Chairman HM Ershad and 18 former BNP, Awami League (AL) and JP lawmakers to appear before it on December 27 in connection with criminal cases filed against them to realise pending telephone bills totalling Tk 66 lakh from them. Metropolitan Magistrate Syed Mohammad Mujibul Haq passed the order after an accounts officer (North) of Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) filed the cases against them on different dates with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's (CMM) Court, Dhaka. The ex-lawmakers who have been sued are -- Engineer Monzurul Ahsan Munshi of Comilla, Nazim Uddin Alam of Bhola, Advocate Mahbubur Rahman of Noakhali, Lutfor Rahman Khan Azad of Tangail, Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yousuf of Faridpur, ANM Ehsanul Haque Milon of Chandpur, Gazi Mohammad Shahjahan of Chittagong, Dr HBM Iqbal of Dhaka, Captain AB Tajul Islam, Razia Matin Chowdhury, Mohammad Ali Zinnah of Chittagong, Kazi Zafar Ahmed of Comilla, Begum Farida Hassan of Satkhira, Syed Masud Reza of Barisal, Joynal Abedin Faruq of Noakhali, Mosharraf Hossain of Feni, KM Obaidur Rahman of Faridpur and Dr Abdul Moin Khan of Narsingdi. In the complaint of the cases, the accounts officer mentioned that the lawmakers did not pay the amount of money from 1996 to 2001 as revenue. They did not clear their dues even after they were served notices. As such, the accounts officer prayed to the CMM for realising the fine from the amount of revenue under section 7(A) of the provisions of Telegraph Act 1985. -- Prothom Alo, December 5.
SC judges start work abstention
The Supreme Court (SC) witnessed another unprecedented incident as its judges started refraining from carrying out court proceedings. The judges started the work stoppage demanding apologies from the SC lawyers who had demonstrated on the premises of the court on November 30, and punishment for the perpetrators of vandalism carried out there on the day. The SC authorities also filed a sedition case with Shahbagh police accusing 200 people, including noted jurists Dr Kamal Hossain, Barrister Amir-Ul Islam, Barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud and Barrister Tania Amir, of the vandalism and tearing off of the national flag. Chief Justice Syed JR Mudassir Husain on November 30 stayed the proceedings of a High Court bench, minutes before it was to announce a rule on the assumption of the post of chief adviser by the president, following petitions filed by 14-party leaders, triggering a melee among the lawyers and the people present there, leading to the vandalism. The judges in a meeting decided to discontinue their work in the High Court (HC) Division also for two days starting today, and to bring sedition charges against the responsible persons for the ransacking and tearing off of the national flag. Although the judges of the High Court (HC) and the appellate divisions came to their offices, none excepting two benches conducted court proceedings. Meanwhile, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) urged the chief justice not to get involved with any political alliance's design and not to take any decision instructed by any party. -- The Daily Star, December 6.
Voter list correction starts from December 8
The Election Commission (EC) at last decided to correct the mistakes in the updated voter list in just eight days by sending its 1.4 lakh staffs on door-to-door visits from December 8. Earlier, it took 22 days for updating the voter roll without checking the authenticity of information with the same manpower. EC Secretary Abdur Rashid Sarkar said they initiated steps to correct the updated voter list. "We sought a budget of Tk 10 crore from the finance ministry for the task," he said at a press briefing after a meeting with the advisers to the caretaker government at Bangabhaban. The EC, which is yet to decide on rescheduling the January 21 polls date announced November 27, allocated eight days for the entire task of deletion and inclusion of names in the voter list updated last July-August at a cost of Tk 24 crore. Around 1.4 lakh staff, who worked for the updating and will now go door to door, will have three days (December 8-10) to detect fake and duplicate names in the updated list and collect applications from eligible voters yet unlisted. After collecting the information on prescribed forms, they will submit it to the assistant registration officers (ARO) within the next two days, an EC Secretariat circular said. Over 6,000 AROs will arrange hearing for deletion of names on December 13 and 14 and then will bring the changes in the voter list on December 15. But before that, they will have to send their recommendations to the EC seeking directives as the EC alone can amend the voter list after announcement of election schedule. -- The Daily Star, December 6.
Corresponding
with the Law Desk
Please send your mails, queries, and opinions to: Law
Desk, The Daily Star 19 Karwan Bazar, Dhaka-1215;
telephone 8124944,8124955,fax 8125155; email: dslawdesk@yahoo.co.uk,lawdesk@thedailystar.net
