Fakhrul files petition to review verdict that abolished 13th amendment

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has filed a petition for a review of the verdict that scrapped the caretaker government system by abolishing the 13^th amendment of the constitution.

Lawyers Joynul Abedin and Mohammad Shishir Monir informed journalists of this development today (16 October).

Shishir Monir said Joynul Abedin will hold a press conference at the Supreme Court Bar Association hall today regarding the filing of the petition.

The 13^th amendment to the constitution, which incorporated the caretaker government system, was adopted by the National Parliament in 1996. 

This amendment's validity was challenged in 1998 by Advocate M Salim Ullah and two other lawyers, who filed a writ in the High Court. 

On 4 August 2004, the High Court dismissed this writ and declared the caretaker government system as legitimate.

Permission for direct appeal against this verdict was granted. Following this, an appeal was made in 2005 by the party that filed the writ application. 

This appeal was accepted by the full bench of seven judges in the Appellate Division, and on 10 May 2011, they declared the 13^th amendment of the constitution invalid based on the majority opinion.

Following the declared verdict, the 15^th amendment, which included the abolition of the caretaker government system, among other issues, was passed in the National Parliament on 30 June 2011. 

The related Gazette was published on 3 July 2011.

To petition for a reconsideration of that verdict by the Appellate Division, Badiul Alam Majumdar, the editor of Citizens for Good Governance (Sujon), and four distinguished individuals filed an application.

The other four individuals are Tofail Ahmed, M Hafiz Uddin Khan, Jobairul Haque Bhuiyan, and Zahra Rahman.