BNP Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir filed a petition on Wednesday on behalf of his party seeking a review of the apex court's verdict that annulled the Caretaker Government system in the Constitution. At the same time, an allegation was also brought against former Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque in the petition.
Advocate Zainul Abedin, President of the Jatiotabadi Ainjibi Forum, stated, "The party secretary general has become an additional party in the case. He filed a review petition. We observed a significant difference between the short order and detailed order of the verdict."
A total of ten grounds have been cited in the review petition.
A seven-member full bench of the Appellate Division, headed by the then Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque, declared the 13th Amendment to the Constitution (caretaker government) null and void on May 10, 2011.
The Parliament passed the 13th Amendment in 1996. Later, Supreme Court lawyer M Salimullah (now deceased) and others filed a writ petition with the High Court in 1998 challenging the legality of this amendment.
The High Court declared the 13th Amendment of the Constitution as valid and constitutional on August 4, 2004. However, the HC allowed the writ petitioners to directly file an appeal with the Appellate Division challenging its judgment. Following this, the writ petitioners appealed before the Appellate Division against the HC verdict in 2005.
The Appellate Division then announced the verdict on May 10, 2011, allowing this appeal.
After the verdict was announced, the 15th Amendment Act was passed by Parliament on June 30, 2011, addressing several issues, including the abolition of the caretaker government system. A gazette was published on July 3, 2011.
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