A parliamentary body has replaced a key word in the draft of the proposed 16th amendment to the constitution, which if passed might give the legislature a kind of flexibility in case it considers impeaching an apex court judge.
The proposed 16th Constitution Amendment Bill 2014 says the legislature “shall” enact a law in case an investigation has to be launched into alleged “incapacity or misconduct” by a Supreme Court judge.
However, yesterday the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Law Ministry, which is now scrutinising the bill, replaced the word “shall” with “may.” The word “shall” is considered equivalent to “must” in legal contexts.
After a meeting of the committee, its Chairman Suranjit Sengupta told reporters: “We recommended replacing the word ‘shall’ with ‘may’ because the original article 96 of the constitution uses ‘may’.”
The draft of the amendment bill was tabled by Law Minister Anisul Huq on Sunday.
The 10-member all-party watchdog is entitled to recommend any changes to a bill placed in the legislature, but it is up to the ruling party and the House to decide on the recommendations.
“We have also recommended that the long preamble of the [proposed] bill should be omitted,” said Suranjit.
The preamble said Gen Ziaur Rahman, through a military order, curtailed the legislature’s authority by introducing the provision for Supreme Judicial Council for removing apex court judges for misconduct or incapacity.
On the contrary, it was actually the Bangabandhu-led Awami League government that, through the fourth amendment to the constitution, stripped the legislature off the power and vested it unto the country’s president. However, while tabling the bill in parliament on Sunday, Law Minister Anisul Huq corrected the factual error in the preamble.
Suranjit said he had also recommended that the law minister should talk to the prime minister about dropping the long preamble.
He also told reporters that the members of his committee would hold meetings with political parties, the Supreme Court, the bar council and other stakeholders before finalising recommendations.
“The BNP can also give their opinion,” he said.
Before the 15th amendment to the constitution in 2011, the then parliamentary committee held talks with all stakeholders, but their suggestions were hardly reflected in the final bill that had been passed. The standing committee will meet again tomorrow to discuss the 16th amendment bill.
