Minister without a portfolio Suranjit Sengupta on Wednesday said the cabinet members’ expression of intent to resign was “conditional” under article 58(2) of the constitution and their posts would not fall vacant unless the prime minister sent the letters to the president.
The cabinet ministers had resigned following a call from the prime minister and nothing unconstitutional had been there, he told the Dhaka Tribune.
“The prime minister requested the ministers to resign and the ministers respected her request. We reigned as per article 58(2) of the constitution,” said Suranjit.
The constitutional provision says the prime minister can ask any minister to step down.
Article 58(1) says the post of a minister will fall vacant following his/her resignation.
“So, article 58(1) will not be applicable here,” Suranjit said, adding: “What the ministers have done is constitutional, legal and legitimate.”
He said a section of people, including the BNP, had questioned the resignation issue with a “political motive.”
He said all of his cabinet colleagues might not be aware of the constitutional obligation.
Suranjit resigned from the cabinet on Saturday while the rest of the present cabinet submitted their resignation letters to the PM on Monday, an action that sparked debates and criticism among legal experts and opposition parties. They said the resignation letters had vacated the posts of the ministers.
Law Minister Shafique Ahmed also claimed on Tuesday that the resignation was not unconstitutional.
Referring to article 58(4) of the constitution, Suranjit said the constitution also had a provision to keep the ministers valid until their successors took charge.
Former cabinet secretary Akbar Ali Khan told the Dhaka Tribune on Tuesday that it was important to know the content of the resignation letter before making any comment.
When he was informed that a minister wrote in the letter: “You [prime minister] announced the formation of an all-party government. To pave the way of forming the all-party government, I am expressing my intent to resign from the cabinet. I am submitting the matter for your consideration,” he said: “If this is the content of a letter of a minister, I would say it is not clearly an unconditional resignation letter.
“Rather, it is a conditional resignation letter, the condition being the formation of the all-party government. If the all-party government is formed, then the resignation can be considered. If the all-party government is not formed, the resignation will not be effective.”
Article 58(1)(a), according to which a minister’s post falls vacant if the minister resigns from office by placing a resignation letter in the hands of the prime minister for submission to the president, would not be applicable in this conditional resignation letter, he said.
The former top bureaucrat does not see any reason for controversy over the ministers’ continuing offices. He said everything would not be stated in the constitution.
Three legal notices were served on Wednesday, requesting the ministers not to function as ministers anymore and make a public statement in this regard by 10am today.
Supreme Court lawyer Ruhul Quddus Kajal sent a notice on behalf of Tuhin Malik to the cabinet secretary, asking him to send it to all ministers. Two other legal notices were served by pro-BNP lawyers Abdullah Al Baki and Zulfikar Ali Zunu.
