The Supreme Court (SC) on Sunday released the full text of a verdict that restored and revived the election-time non-party caretaker government system in the Constitution in its previous form.
The 74-page verdict was published on the Supreme Court's website. Former Chief Justice Dr Syed Refaat Ahmed authored the judgement.
A seven-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by then Chief Justice Dr Syed Refaat Ahmed, delivered the verdict on November 20, 2025, after hearing two appeal petitions and three review petitions seeking restoration of the system.
In its landmark ruling, the apex court also entirely set aside its earlier 2011 verdict delivered by a bench led by former Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque, which had scrapped the non-party caretaker government system.
The court said the earlier judgement was tainted by several errors apparent on the face of the record.
In its observations, the court said: "The Constitution is not a rigid parchment; it is a living covenant between the state and its people. It endures when it listens to the people's conscience. The thirteenth amendment, born of that conscience, remains a symbol of the republic's capacity to renew its democratic faith."
However, according to the judgement, the non-party caretaker government system will be implemented before the 14th parliamentary election.
Barrister Ruhul Quddus Kazal, one of the counsels for the BNP who sought a review of the earlier verdict, told The Financial Express that the caretaker government system had now been directly restored and revived in the Constitution through the judgement.
The non-party caretaker government system was introduced through the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1996.
The amendment aimed to safeguard democracy by ensuring free and fair elections under a neutral caretaker government, which would remain in office for only 90 days to oversee the polls.
After the fall of Sheikh Hasina on August 5 this year amid a mass uprising, five review petitions were filed seeking reconsideration of the earlier judgement.
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