With the latest amendment made on Thursday, the constitution framed in 1972 has been changed 15 times with the first one done just seven months after it was adopted.
The Constituent Assembly, a forum of people's representatives, adopted the constitution on November 4, 1972, presenting the country with a set of political principles in less than a year after the People's Republic of Bangladesh came into being through the 1971 war of independence.
The constitution came into effect on the Victory Day on December 16, 1972.
Constitutional rule was interrupted several times by martial law and marked by a series of amendments to the constitution either to legalise military regimes or to ratify major policy changes of successive governments.
Three of the 15 amendments have so far been scrapped entirely and one partly by the Supreme Court.
The first, second, third and fourth amendments were made by Awami League government of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the fifth through martial law regulations and the Bangladesh
Nationalist Party, sixth by BNP, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th by Jatiya Party, 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th by BNP and the 15th amendment by Awami League-led alliance.
The first amendment made on July 15, 1973, empowered the government to enact law to put perpetrators of war crimes on trial.
The second amendment was made on September 22, 1973 making provisions for the proclamation of a state of emergency, suspension of certain fundamental rights during a state of emergency and preventive detentions and empowering parliament to amend the fundamental rights stipulated in Part III.
The constitution was then amended on November 28, 1974 endorsing the Bangladesh-India boundary agreement, signed on May 16, 1974.
The fourth amendment, made on January 25, 1975, is considered the one which made the most controversial changes to the constitution in the country's constitutional history by introducing a one-party (BKSAL) rule, switching over to the presidential form of government and curtailing the independence of the judiciary.
The country's founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated before the fifth amendment was made on April 6, 1979, legalising the martial law regime between 1975 and 1979, inserting 'Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim' before the preamble to the constitution, dropping 'secularism,' one of the basic principles of the 1972 constitution, restoring partial independence of the judiciary, curtailing authority of parliament and allowing politics based on religion.
The sixth amendment, made on July 10, 1981 after the assassination of president Ziaur Rahman, also founder of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, to enable the then vice-president Justice Abdus Sattar to contest the presidential polls.
The constitution went through its seventh revision on November 11, 1986 that legalised the martial law of president HM Ershad, founder of Jatiya Party. It also extended the retirement age of Supreme Court judges to 65 years from 62.
The eighth amendment made on June 9, 1988 declared 'Islam' as the state religion of Bangladesh. It also made provisions for decentralisation of the High Court by setting up its benches in major cities.
Provision for election of a vice-president by direct votes was made by the ninth amendment on July 11, 1989, while the 10th on June 23, 1990 gave a 10-year extension to the provision for reserved seats for women in parliament increasing the number of such seats to 30 from 15.
The 11th amendment on August 10, 1991 made provisions for return of Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed to the office of the chief justice after discharging duties as the vice-president and the acting president of the first interim government, which was formed in December 1990 after the fall of Ershad.
The country returned to the parliamentary form of government through the 12th amendment on September 18, 1991, which set a rare example of consensus between the treasury and opposition benches.
The system of an election-time caretaker government was made a law through the 13th amendment on March 28, 1996.
The 14th amendment on 17, 2004 stipulated that political parties would have woman representatives in reserved seats proportionate to their representation in parliament. It increased the number of reserved seats to 45 from 30. It also extended the retirement age of Supreme Court judges to 67 years from 65 and made provisions for preservation and display of the portraits of the president and prime minister in all government, semi-government and autonomous offices, and all educational institutions.
The Supreme Court has so far scrapped three of the 15 amendments in entirety and one partly.
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court declared void the fifth amendment on February 2, 1010, the 13th amendment on May 10, 2011 and seventh amendment on May 15, 2011.
The highest court declared void partly the eighth amendment on September 2, 1989.
The High Court, however, on June 8 issued a rule asking the government to explain why the insertion of Article 2A by the eighth amendment to the constitution declaring Islam as the state religion should not be declared unconstitutional and void.
No other amendments, however, has yet been challenged in the Supreme Court.
Source : New Age
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