This verdict to pave way for fair elections: Badiul Alam Majumdar

Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik-SHUJAN (Citizens for Good Governance) secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar has expressed satisfaction over the verdict reinstating the provisions of the caretaker government system.

He said that today’s ruling by the Appellate Division would pave the way for free and impartial elections.

He made the remarks to newspersons on the Supreme Court premises Thursday morning, following the verdict delivered by the country’s apex court.

Badiul Alam Majumdar is one of the main appellants in the case.

The Appellate Division has fully overturned the judgment delivered 14 years ago that had annulled the 13th Amendment, which originally incorporated the caretaker government system into the Constitution.

Allowing the appeals lodged against that judgment and disposing of the related review petitions, the Supreme Court delivered its decision today.

The verdict states that the provisions relating to the non-partisan caretaker government have been revived and reactivated by this ruling, and that these provisions will be effective solely on the basis of future applicability.

Badiul Alam Majumdar said that the verdict delivered by the then chief justice ABM Khairul Haque had effectively exiled the country’s electoral system, rendering the last three general elections controversial.

Today’s ruling, he stated, has opened the path for free and impartial elections.

The SHUJAN secretary added that after a long struggle, the court had finally accepted the review petition and reinstated the caretaker government system.

Badiul Alam Majumdar noted that he had consistently written on the issue since the annulment of the 13th amendment.

He said that the judgment was unconstitutional, and that he had also raised objections regarding the subsequent 15th amendment that followed.

Sharif Bhuiyan, senior counsel for Badiul Alam Majumdar and the three other noted appellants, said that the court had unequivocally declared today that the judgment delivered under the leadership of justice Khairul Haque had been completely invalidated. As a result, the caretaker government system established by the 13th amendment has returned to the constitution.

He described today’s verdict as truly historic in the context of the present time.

Senior lawyer Sharif Bhuiyan further said that the judgment delivered under the leadership of Khairul Haque had been of extremely poor quality and had marked the beginning of a 15-year-long authoritarian system in Bangladesh. The judgment, he added, had been written with a vested interest.