Govt to file review plea on 16th amendment verdict in 28 days

The government will file a petition with the Supreme Court in next 28 days seeking review of its verdict scraping the 16th amendment to the constitution, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said today.

The attorney general’s office has collected the certified copy of the apex court’s full judgement on the 16th amendment of the constitution on November 26, Mahbubey Alam told The Daily Star.

“According to the Supreme Court rules, the review petition has to be filed within 30 days from the date of receiving of the full judgement copy. We will file the review petition within this period of time,” the attorney general said.

On August 1, the apex court released the full verdict of Appellate Division of the SC that upheld the High Court verdict on the 16th amendment that scrapped the 16th amendment to the constitution which had empowered the parliament to remove SC judges for incapacity or misconduct.

The AG also said that his office has already finalised draft of the review petition. He, however, refused to say the contents of the petition.

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

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.