SC lifts stay on 5th Amendment ruling
Monday, 4 January 2010
The Supreme Court (SC) Sunday lifted a stay order on the 2005 High Court ruling declaring the Fifth Amendment to the constitution illegal, reports bdnews24.com.
The stay order was lifted as the government was allowed to withdraw a previous leave to appeal seeking to challenge the ruling.
A five-member Appellate Division bench, headed by Chief Justice Md Tafazzul Islam, also allowed the Muktijoddha Kalyan Trust to withdraw a similar leave to appeal.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told the press that with the withdrawal of the leaves to appeal and vacation of the existing stay order, the High Court ruling was upheld for now.
The High Court gave the ruling in August 2005 in response to a petition challenging the legality of a Marshal Law Regulation of 1977.
In its ruling, the High Court declared regimes between August 15, 1975 and 1979, headed by Khandaker Mushtaque Ahmed, Abu Sa'dat Mohammad Sayem and Ziaur Rahman illegal.
An individual who claimed that his ownership of the Moon Cinema Hall had been expropriated by dint of the amendment that had legalsied all the regimes between 1975 and 1979 had filed the petition on which the ruling was given.
The Fifth Amendment was meant to provide constitutional legitimacy to the governments in power - military or otherwise - after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975.
The ruling government in 2005, an alliance government led by BNP, founded by Ziaur Rahman, filed a leave to appeal on which the Supreme Court had stayed the High Court ruling.
But the present government in May 2009 petitioned the court for withdrawal of the leave to appeal.
However, there are two more leaves to appeal pending against the High Court ruling.
The Appellate Division set January 18 to hear the two leaves to appeal filed by BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain and three Jamaat-e-Islami backed lawyers Munshi Ahsan Kabir, Tajul Islam and Kamruzzaman Bhuiyan.
The stay order was lifted as the government was allowed to withdraw a previous leave to appeal seeking to challenge the ruling.
A five-member Appellate Division bench, headed by Chief Justice Md Tafazzul Islam, also allowed the Muktijoddha Kalyan Trust to withdraw a similar leave to appeal.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told the press that with the withdrawal of the leaves to appeal and vacation of the existing stay order, the High Court ruling was upheld for now.
The High Court gave the ruling in August 2005 in response to a petition challenging the legality of a Marshal Law Regulation of 1977.
In its ruling, the High Court declared regimes between August 15, 1975 and 1979, headed by Khandaker Mushtaque Ahmed, Abu Sa'dat Mohammad Sayem and Ziaur Rahman illegal.
An individual who claimed that his ownership of the Moon Cinema Hall had been expropriated by dint of the amendment that had legalsied all the regimes between 1975 and 1979 had filed the petition on which the ruling was given.
The Fifth Amendment was meant to provide constitutional legitimacy to the governments in power - military or otherwise - after the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975.
The ruling government in 2005, an alliance government led by BNP, founded by Ziaur Rahman, filed a leave to appeal on which the Supreme Court had stayed the High Court ruling.
But the present government in May 2009 petitioned the court for withdrawal of the leave to appeal.
However, there are two more leaves to appeal pending against the High Court ruling.
The Appellate Division set January 18 to hear the two leaves to appeal filed by BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain and three Jamaat-e-Islami backed lawyers Munshi Ahsan Kabir, Tajul Islam and Kamruzzaman Bhuiyan.