Five citizens on Tuesday filed a petition with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court seeking a review of its 2011 verdict that scrapped the non-party caretaker government system.
Advocate Sharif Bhuiyan and Barrister Tanim Hussain Shawon submitted the review petition on behalf of five citizens including Badiul Alam Majumdar, Secretary of rights organisation Shushaner Jonmo Nagorik (Shujan).
The other four citizens are Tofail Ahmed, M Hafizuddin Khan, Md Jobirul Hoque Bhuiyan and Zahrah Rahman.
The petition mentioned around 14 grounds, on which the apex court may consider reviewing the judgement.
After filing the petition, Sharif Bhuiya told reporters that they have submitted the review petition before the related section of the Appellate Division.
"Now, we will move before the Supreme Court for hearing on the review petition after its reopening following the upcoming annual vacation," the lawyer added.
Both the Appellate and High Court Divisions of the Supreme Court is scheduled to go into an annual vacation on September 6 and to reopen on October 20.
Citing the review petition, Sharif Bhuiyan said the caretaker government system had been introduced through political consensus of the people and therefore, it has become a basic structure of the constitution, which cannot be scrapped.
The Appellate Division verdict that had cancelled the 13th amendment of the constitution was "self-contradictory" as the court in its short verdict said that the next two national elections (10th and 11th parliamentary elections) could be held under the caretaker government, but this directive was not mentioned in the full judgement, the lawyer said.
In the petition, it was mentioned that the 2011 judgement severely impacted the citizen's democratic and constitutional rights, leading to three flawed elections in 2014, 2018, and 2024, depriving citizens of their right to free and fair elections.
Replying to a question, Sharif said if the Appellate Division allows the review petition, the caretaker government system will be restored in the country for holding the national election.
On Sunday, Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam allowed the five citizens to file the petition with the court to seek review of its 2011 judgement.
This move followed the ouster of Sheikh Hasina government on August 5 in a student-led mass uprising, her fleeing to India and assuming power of the interim government led by Prof Muhammad Yunus on August 8.
The Appellate Division, headed by then chief justice ABM Khairul Haque, declared the 13th amendment to the constitution, which introduced the non-party caretaker government system, unconstitutional.
The 2011 verdict allowed for two more general elections of the 10th and 11th parliament under a caretaker government, excluding the participation of retired chief justice.
Justice Khairul Haque, however, in the full text of the verdict delivered after his retirement on September 16, 2012, dropped this observation for holding two more national elections under the caretaker system.
The review petition comes after a Supreme Court lawyer, Abdul Mannan Khan, had challenged the 13th amendment in 1999 through a public interest litigation writ petition, which the High Court dismissed on August 4, 2004. Mannan appealed to the Appellate Division in 2005.
After the Appellate Division verdict, the 15th Amendment Act was passed by the National Parliament on June 30, 2011, bringing several issues, including the abolition of the caretaker government system.
A gazette was published on July 3, 2011.
