Appellate Division dismisses petition challenging legality of 290 MPs’ oath

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has dismissed the leave to appeal petition challenging the legality of the oath taking of 290 MPs of the 11th national parliament.

A seven-member full bench of the Appellate Division led by chief justice Hasan Foez Siddique delivered the verdict on Tuesday.

Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon appeared for the petitioner while attorney general  AM Amin Uddin for the state.

The validity of the oath of 290 MPs was proved by this verdict, attorney general AM Amin Uddin said.

The 11th national election was held on 30 December 2018 and the 290 members of parliaments took oath on 3 January 2019.

The 10th parliamentary election was held on 5 January 2014. The elected MPs were sworn in on 9 January that year, and the first meeting of the parliament was held on 29 January.

According to Article 72 (3) of the Constitution, the term of parliament shall be counted for five years from the first sitting of parliament.

Considering this, lawyer Taherul Islam Towhid filed a writ petition with the High Court on 20 January, challenging the validity of the oath.

He claimed that  the oath taking of the MPs of the  11th Parliament took place before the end of the term of the previous parliament.

On 18 February 2019, the High Court dismissed the writ petition in this regard. The writ petitioner then filed a leave-to-appeal petition against the High Court's order on 20 September 2019.