During a hearing on the writ petition challenging the validity of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished the caretaker government system and addressed other significant issues, the High Court said that the case was no longer a matter for any single party but was now a case for the entire population of Bangladesh.
The comment was made on the second day of the hearing on Wednesday by the High Court bench consisting of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Debashish Roy Chowdhury.
Senior lawyer Dr Sharif Bhuiyan represented the petitioners in court, referring to the 15th Amendment as a “motivated amendment.”
The hearing saw participation from senior lawyers representing various parties: Dr Sharif Bhuiyan for Sujan (Citizens for Good Governance), Zainul Abedin, Badruddoza Badol, and Advocate Farzana Sharmin Putul for BNP, and Advocate Mohammad Shishir Monir for Jamaat-e-Islami.
Additionally, lawyers Abdur Rouf and Ishrat Hasan represented the Insaniyat Biplob party.
On behalf of the state, Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman, Additional Attorney General Md Arshadur Rouf, and Deputy Attorney General Md Asad Uddin appeared.
The 15th Amendment was passed on June 30, 2011, by the National Parliament.
This amendment officially recognized Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the Father of the Nation abolished the caretaker government system, and increased the reserved seats for women in Parliament from 45 to 50.
In the public interest, five prominent individuals, including Badiul Alam Majumdar, Secretary of Sujan, filed a writ petition on August 19, challenging the validity of the 15th Amendment.
The other four petitioners were Tofayel Ahmed, M Hafiz Uddin Khan, Zobairul Haque Bhuiyan, and Zahra Rahman.
Subsequently, BNP and Jamaat also joined the petition, with BNP’s Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Professor Mia Golam Parwar representing their respective parties.
After an initial hearing on the writ petition, the High Court bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Shashanka Shekhar Sarkar issued a rule.
Later, the petitioners presented the case to the bench led by Justice Farah Mahbub, with October 30 set as the date for the hearing.
