The ruling Awami League and most of the left-leaning political parties welcomed the Appellate Division's ruling of Tuesday that declared void the caretaker government system but the next two general elections could be held under the caretaker government.
The Appellate Division declared void the caretaker government system by declaring illegal the 13th amendment to the constitution.
The verdict also said that the parliament has the liberty to make necessary amendments to drop the provisions for making former chief justices or former Appellate Division judges as the head of the non-party caretaker government.
The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party did not give any reaction but the party's acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said that the party would give detailed reaction after discussing the verdict in its forum on receiving a copy of the verdict.
The party's standing committee member Moudud Ahmed, also a former law minister, in his personal opinion, said that the court ruling would push the country into further constitutional and political crisis.
'The caretaker government system was included in the constitution on a political issue to hold credible elections. This verdict of the apex court will push the country towards further constitutional and political crisis,' he told reporters after the verdict.
Moudud saw the court verdict as 'contradictory.' He said, 'the full text of the verdict is not available yet. From what we have heard so far, the verdict on one hand, says that the caretaker government is unconstitutional and undemocratic and, on the other, allows it to be in place for next 10 years.'
The minister for law, Shafique Ahmed, said that the caretaker government system would not be required if the Election Commission was strengthened and independent. 'Even such a provision for the caretaker government is not in practice in neighbouring countries. The Election Commission can ensure free and fair elections by upholding its independence and the past instances of upazila and municipality elections so indicate,' he said in his office.
The Awami League's advisory council member Suranjit Sengupta said that the court verdict would put an end to the continuing debate over the caretaker government system.
'The ruling said that the provision for the caretaker government could never be a permanent system. We also said the same earlier. Now we cannot violate the court verdict,' said Suranjit, also co-chair of the special parliamentary committee on constitution amendment.
Suranjit said that the special committee would consider the issue of finding out an alternative to the retired chief justice as the head of the caretaker government after it received the copy of the verdict.
The Awami League's joint general secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif welcomed the court verdict and said that the democratic norms of holding elections under an elected government would be re-established through the judgement.
'The provision for holding elections by an elected government will be restored through the landmark verdict,' said Hanif, also the spokesman of the party. He said that the parliament, if it wanted, could take further course of action to this effect in keeping with the verdict.
The Supreme Court Bar Association president, Khandkar Mahbub Hossain, sharply reacted to the court ruling. 'The ruling created a fog of confusion and it would heat up the country's political scenario.'
He said that the tendency to implement party agenda by making someone else scapegoat would not do any good.
'The verdict made it tough to reach any conclusion. On one hand, it cancelled the 13th amendment terming it against the spirit of the constitution and, on the other hand, it says that the next two elections could be held under the caretaker government. There is no guidance on how the two elections would be held,' he said.
'Besides, the instruction for not making the chief justice and any other Supreme Court judge the head of the caretaker government was also not clear. It creates confusion and also raises question about the sovereignty of the parliament. If the Appellate Division instructs the parliament, there is no need for the parliament. The government would run the country seeking advice from court, if needed,' he said.
The Jatiya Party faction led by Hussein Muhammad Ershad did not give any reaction and said it would announce its reaction to the verdict at a press briefing today, party sources said.
The acting Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general ATM Azharul Islam said that the Awami League-led government was conspiring to drop the caretaker system making the court a scapegoat to cling to power by holding elections under a political government.
He said that the annulment of the caretaker government system would create a political chaos and constitutional vacuum.
He demanded that the caretaker government system should be made permanent by taking opinions of all political parties.
The Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal president, Hasanul Haq Inu, welcomed the court verdict saying that the controversy regarding the caretaker government had been resolved through the judgement.
'The judgement delivered by the court is timely and the special parliamentary committee on constitution amendment can now take decisions regarding the caretaker government easily,' said Inu, also a member on the special parliamentary committee.
He also said that court had created an opportunity for elections to be held under the caretaker government for next two terms and the Election Commission should be strengthened to ensure free, fair and credible elections under a political government by this time.
The Workers Party of Bangladesh president, Rashed Khan Menon, appreciated the verdict of the Supreme Court on the caretaker government issue.
'The verdict will help us to find out alternative to the caretaker system of the government for holding national elections,' Menon said.
The ruling on not making judges heads or members of the caretaker government is appreciable, he said. 'We hope that the political parties will be able to reach a consensus on holding national elections,' he added.
The Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal general secretary, Khalequzzman, welcomed the court ruling saying that it had reflected the public opinion.
'We earlier repeatedly said that the caretaker government system came in place because of the undemocratic character of two major political parties, their unethical competition for power and political bankruptcy. Until such a situation prevails, elections should be held under the caretaker government. There might, otherwise, not be participation of all parties in the elections.
He also found the ruling for not including chief justices in the caretaker government to be 'rational.'
The Communist Party of Bangladesh general secretary, Mujahidul Islam Selim, said that the charter of the three alliances was worked out after the fall of Ershad in 1990 to make national election acceptable to people.
'The charter then proposed to hold three consecutive elections under this system but the chiefs of two major political parties, Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, did not accept the proposal,' Selim said.
'We support the holding of the next two or three general elections under the system. The elections need to be held independent of the influence of muscle powers, black money and administrative manipulations,' he said.
The Jatiya Mukti Council president, Badruddin Umar, said that the dropping of the caretaker system would add to the problems.
'It will be difficult to hold national elections in the absence of the caretaker government system,' he said. He favoured the caretaker government system and said that the political parties which want to contest elections should favour it.
The Ganasanghati Andolan chief coordinator, Zonayed Saki, said that the caretaker government system was contrary to the democratic system and any modification of this system would make no difference.
'Radical changes in the ruling system can ensure the holding of free and fair elections,' Saki added.
Source: New Age
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