The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Wednesday continued hearing arguments for the second day on appeals and review petitions challenging the court鈥檚 2011 verdict that had scrapped the caretaker government system.
During the hearing, the petitioner鈥檚 lawyer Sharif Bhuiyan told the court that the election-time caretaker government system could be automatically revived through a verdict of the apex court without enacting any fresh law.
The court鈥檚 2011 verdict, scrapping the caretaker government system, paved the way for the Awami League regime to remove the provision from the constitution.
Representing five eminent citizens including Sushashoner Jonno Nagorik secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar, Sharif placed his arguments before a seven-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by chief justice Syed Refaat Ahmed.
He urged the court to restore the caretaker system from the 14th Jatiya Sangsad elections.
The court, on completion of the day鈥檚 hearing, set Thursday for resuming the proceedings on the appeals and review petitions.聽 The chief justice said that no other appeal hearing would be held until the completion of the hearing on caretaker government appeals.
Citing instances from the eighth and 16th amendments to the constitution, Sharif argued that when any constitutional amendment is annulled, the previous provision automatically comes into force.
Responding to a query from the chief justice on whether such revival would affect the power of parliament, Sharif said, 鈥榠t would not鈥�.
He further submitted that the court could also issue guidelines for holding the next general election under an interim government and for reinstating the caretaker system from the 14th JS polls.
Sharif alleged that the 2011 verdict delivered by the then chief justice ABM Khairul Haque had been given by exercising powers beyond judicial authority, and that the judgment contained several legal errors.
He said the 1/11 military-backed caretaker government did not result from any flaw in the caretaker system itself but from a constitutional violation by the then president.
鈥楾he then president violated the constitution and assumed state power himself, which led to the 1/11 incident. It was not for any defect of the caretaker government system,鈥� he told the court.
Referring to article 58C of the constitution, Sharif said that a caretaker government must be formed within 15 days of the dissolution of parliament following the 13th amendment. Therefore, he said, there was no scope to form a caretaker government before the upcoming general election, expected to be held in the first half of February.
He added that the next general election would be held under the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government, whose responsibilities include meeting public expectations, carrying out necessary reforms, and handing over power to an elected administration.
On the first day鈥檚 hearing, Sharif told the court that the 13th amendment to the constitution, which introduced the non-party caretaker government system in 1996, is a basic structure of the charter and therefore cannot be cancelled.
On August 27, the Appellate Division allowed the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and five citizens, including Badiul Alam Majumder, to move two separate appeals against the verdict.
The BNP, the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, five citizens, and freedom fighter Mofazzal Islam had filed review petitions last year, arguing that the caretaker system was introduced through political consensus and had become part of the constitution鈥檚 basic structure.
The review petitions were filed after the fall of the Awami League regime August 5, 2024, amid a student-led uprising that led to the formation of the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus.
Earlier, the 13th amendment was declared void on May 10, 2011, and the 15th amendment, passed on June 30, 2011, formally abolished the caretaker government system.
