The Law Ministry has finally made a formal commitment about enacting 49 long overdue laws that the country’s constitution stipulates, the absence of which has led to questions raised about many government decisions over the last 40 years.
When the constitution was formulated in 1972, there were at least 49 instances for which the constitution stipulated that the relevant articles would come in force when correspondent laws were passed, preferably immediately.
Those instances covered a wide range of issues including the legislature’s power to appoint Supreme Court judges; determining the authority of the parliamentary standing committees; the privileges of parliament, its committees and the lawmakers; and so on.
Since 1973, various quarters have been demanding the formulation of these laws, but none of the governments, irrespective of their ideologies, seemed serious.
Yesterday, Law Minister Anisul Huq assured a parliamentary body that these laws would be passed. The watchdog asked whether the government would formulate the laws without which the constitution and good governance were meaningless.
The Law Ministry yesterday presented a paper that had mentions of the required laws. After the meeting, Suranjit Sengupta, chairman of the parliamentary body, told the Dhaka Tribune: “The constitution has instructed the executive to enact some 49 laws to ensure constitutional rule, but the constitutionally required laws have not been passed. Without enacting such laws, the constitution cannot be implemented properly.”
Suranjit said there were currently some laws in place that addressed some parts of the issues mentioned in the 49 articles. “But complete laws must be enacted,” he said.
The watchdog yesterday assigned the Law Commission to start working on the preparation of the constitutionally obligatory laws. The commission has the authority to suggest the government on legal reform.
In April, being tasked by the parliamentary body, the Law Commission suggested that the government should restore the original article 96 of the constitution to impeach judges for misconduct or violating the constitution or incapability. In line with the commission’s recommendation, the Law Ministry recently initiated a move to amend the constitution and bring back the provision that would make judges accountable to the legislature.
“We fully agree with the [parliamentary] committee’s observation about enacting the laws,” Suranjit quoted Anisul Huq as telling the 10-member watchdog, that has members from both the ruling AL and the opposition JaPa.
Former law minister Shafique Ahmed told the immediate past 9th parliament twice that the government would not enact the law for appointing judges to the apex court.
In the same parliament, Jatiya Party MP Mujibul Haque, now state minister for labour, in line with the article 95(2) of the constitution, submitted a private-member bill regarding the appointment of judges. But that bill was not even discussed in the House.
The parliamentary standing committee on the law ministry in the 9th parliament, headed by Suranjit Sengupta, drafted a bill to determine the authority of the parliamentary watchdog bodies and sent it the Law Ministry for passage.
Article 78 of the constitution orders enacting laws on the privileges of parliament, its committees and the MPs. But the proposed law was also shelved.
Article 5(2) of the constitution says the boundary of the capital Dhaka must be determined by law. That law, however, has not either been enacted as yet.