The sitting of the National Consensus Commission (NCC) with the political parties for a final July Charter is being delayed due to slow response from the parties on the draft.
The commission had extended the date for submitting feedback on the draft national charter for two days until August 22. Despite the extension, four political parties have not sent any response yet on the draft copy.
Meanwhile, the NCC's efforts to get experts' opinions continue to find a legal framework of the charter to determine legal bindings, implementation and address the issue of agreements with notes of dissent from political parties.
Earlier, the commission expected that the final consultation could start this week after it gets responses on the draft. However, it has yet to get responses from all the political parties that sat with the commission in the last two months.
Meanwhile, the expert opinions have also created confusion about future implementation of the charter as disagreements among political parties have shown no respite.
Talking to the FE, NCC Vice-Chairman Prof Ali Riaz said that the expected sitting with the political parties on draft charter would not take place this week.
He, however, expectc that it could happen next week.
But the hope remains dim as the commission is piled with observations of the political parties and experts' opinions.
The commission will have to review all those before sitting with the political parties. Furthermore, questions arise if the commission can complete its task to finalise the much-hyped July Charter before September 15.
Earlier, the government extended the commission's tenure till September 15 as the charter could not be completed in the given time.
"We succeeded in having a draft charter by July 31, the scheduled time. We are hopeful that the government won't have to extend the commission's tenure further. But it also lies with the political parties and their will," Prof Riaz added.
The commission is working in full swing to discuss the ways and means of implementing the July National Charter, he said.
The commission on Sunday held a meeting with Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Adviser Asif Nazrul and Attorney-General Md Asaduzzaman, where retired Supreme Court Justice MA Matin, Justice Mainul Islam Chowdhury, Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh Dr Sharif Bhuiyan and Barrister Imran Siddique were also present.
"We took legal advice from them. We are also analysing the opinions of the political parties and discussing with our expert panel and others to find solutions on the issues regarding which political parties have different opinions," he added.
According to the commission, if any political party does not give a response, then it would be considered that they agree on the draft copy.
However, Prof Riaz said they would further contact the political parties that haven't submitted their opinions or feedback.
The commission is working with experts to have their legal opinions and suggestions to determine the legal framework of the July Charter as disagreement has been growing among the political parties over the implementation and legal bindings in the constitution on it.
After receiving the responses from experts, the commission will meet with the parties again to come up with the final approval.
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