The High Court (HC) on Tuesday questioned the legality of the government decision on refusing to give detailed information about who proposed whose names for the formation of the latest Election Commission (EC).
The court issued a rule upon the concerned bodies of the government to explain in four weeks as to why their decision not to provide information about who nominated whose names in selecting qualified persons for the posts of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and other Commissioners.
An HC bench of justices Farah Mahbub and Ahmed Sohel passed the order after hearing a writ petition filed in this regard.
The Information Commission and the Cabinet Secretary have been asked to comply with the rule within four weeks.
The Information Commission on June 7 this year gave a decision that the information about who nominated whose names is not givable.
Later, Dr Badiul Alam Majumdar, Secretary of Sushasoner Jonno Nagorik (SUJAN), a rights organisation, and three other people filed a writ with the HC challenging the legality of the decision passed by the Information Commission.
Lawyers Sharif Bhuiyan and Saiful Alam Chowdhury appeared in the court hearing on behalf of the petitioners while Deputy Attorney General Samarendra Nath Biswas represented the state.
On February 16 this year, Mr Majumdar made an appeal to the official concerned of the Cabinet Division seeking full particulars of the names of the proposed persons recommended for the formation of the new Election Commission and also the information about who proposed whose names to the search committee.
On March 01, the official in charge expressed his inability saying that the Cabinet Division has no jurisdiction to provide any information in this regard.
The SUJAN secretary then made an appeal to the appellate authority of the Cabinet Division against the inability. Finally he complained to the Information Commission as he did not get a response within the stipulated time.
However, the Information Commission dismissed the complaint on June 7 stating that the requested information is not givable. In this circumstance, the four persons filed the writ challenging the government decision.
A six-member search committee was formed on February 05, 2022, to select qualified persons for the formation of the new Election Commission.
The committee urged political parties and individuals to recommend names for the EC. On 14 February, the Cabinet Division published a list of 322 individuals proposed by different political parties, organisations and individuals. However, it was not published who nominated whose name.
The search committee on February 22 finalised 10 names and recommended those to the President for the formation of the EC. The President on February 26 appointed former Senior Secretary Kazi Habibul Awal as the Chief Election Commissioner and four others as Election Commissioners.
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