BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has joined the appeal filed against the High Court verdict that struck down several provisions of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution—including the abolition of the caretaker government system—as illegal.
The appeal was placed before the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Dr Syed Refaat Ahmed, on Tuesday morning.
After the preliminary hearing, the court allowed the BNP secretary general to be added as a party to the appeal. Barrister Ruhul Quddus Kajal represented him in court.
On December 17, 2024, the High Court declared several provisions of the 15th Amendment, including the abolition of the caretaker government, unconstitutional and restored the referendum provision.
In its observations, the court noted that democracy is part of the Constitution’s basic structure, and that free, fair and impartial elections under party governments had repeatedly failed to reflect the will of the people, leading to the July uprising.
The High Court bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Debasish Roy Chowdhury ruled that Articles 20 and 21 of the 15th Amendment—removing the caretaker government—were inconsistent with the Constitution. Articles 7A, 7B and 44(2), inserted through the amendment, were also declared void. The amendment made changes in 54 areas.
However, the court did not strike down the entire amendment, leaving decisions on the remaining provisions to the next parliament, including those related to the Father of the Nation and the March 26 speech.
The court also reinstated the referendum provision under Article 142, which had been removed by Section 47 of the 15th Amendment. Articles 7A and 7B, which restricted amendments to fundamental provisions of the Constitution, and Article 44(2), enabling Parliament to vest High Court powers in other courts, were struck down.
A full 139-page text of the judgment was published on July 8 following the signatures of the two judges. Subsequently, on November 3, a leave-to-appeal petition was filed by Dr Sharif Bhuiyan on behalf of writ petitioner Badiul Alam Majumder, seeking cancellation of the entire amendment. On November 13, the Appellate Division accepted the appeal.