Attorney General Mahbubey Alam has said the newly elected lawmakers who took oaths yesterday could not lay down any laws before January 24, the last day of ninth parliament, as per the constitution.
However, their oath taking before the expiration of the previous parliament was not a breach but rather was in accordance with the constitution, he said.
According to article 123(3) of the constitution, elected MPs shall not assume office before the expiration of the ninth parliament. Some legal experts said taking the oath meant assuming office.
Article 148 (3) of the constitution says: “Where under this constitution a person is required to make an oath before he enters upon an office, he shall be deemed to have entered upon the office immediately after he makes the oath.”
The attorney general said: “There is no decision to hold sessions before January 24, so the new MPs cannot take part in enacting laws in this period, which means they are not assuming their offices. So the constitution is not being violated in any way. Thus, the notion that there are two parliaments in existence at the same time is absurd.”
Mahbubey Alam spoke to journalists at his office, as the debate raged about whether it was a violation of the constitution to have two parliaments active simultaneously.
Earlier yesterday, 283 MPs who were elected in the 10th parliamentary polls took oaths at the parliament premises under Speaker of the ninth parliament Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury.
The attorney general also said the oath taking ceremony was held yesterday because there was a constitutional obligation that the MPs must be sworn in within three days of the issuance of the gazette notification of the national polls results by the Election Commission. The EC issued the notification on Wednesday.