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B''desh plans to limit President''s authority
B''desh plans to limit President''s authority - International News
Anisur Rahman
Dhaka, Mar 31 (PTI) Bangladesh''s special parliamentary committee on constitutional amendment has agreed to limit the President''s power to declare a state of emergency and promulgate ordinances under caretaker governments.
"We are working on how to do it (limit his authority) through bringing necessary changes to the constitution," the Daily Star today quoted committee''s co-chair Suranjit Sengupta as saying after a close door meeting of the panel.
He said parliamentary body earlier agreed in principle to limit the president''s power to declare a state of emergency and promulgate ordinances in absence of the elected government and parliament.
Sengupta, however, said a door should be kept open to tackle urgencies during a caretaker regime.
Under the existing constitutional provisions the president is a ceremonial head of the state requiring him to act in line with prime ministers advice. But he is empowered with sweeping authority to act independently during the non-party interim government installed in every five years for 90 days to conduct general elections.
The parliamentary move is visibly prompted by the example of the past interim regime when the then president Iajudin Ahmed declared the state of emergency amid a heightened political tension in 2007.
The army-backed caretaker regime at that time ran the country for two years until December 2008 elections brought the ruling Awami League to power.
Newspaper reports quoting members of the parliamentary committee said their meeting yesterday decided to insert some conditions to restrict the president''s authority to promulgate ordinances in absence of a parliament.
The parliamentary development came as hearing on an appeal was underway in the Supreme Court against a 2004 High Court verdict declaring lawful the 13th amendment to the constitution introducing the non-party caretaker government in 1996.
Senior Supreme Court lawyers Rafique-ul Huq and M Zahir yesterday told the apex court that the caretaker government system should be revised by dropping the provision for appointing former Supreme Court judges as chief adviser or adviser of the interim non-party administration.
They came up with the opinion as "amici curiae" or "friend of the court" saying that the system of holding national elections under the caretaker government was still a necessity in Bangladesh but it needed a revision in the interest of the democracy and the judiciary.
The last chief justice or his predecessors are made chief adviser or heads of government of the interim regime under the existing system.
B''desh plans to limit President''s authority - International News
Anisur Rahman
Dhaka, Mar 31 (PTI) Bangladesh''s special parliamentary committee on constitutional amendment has agreed to limit the President''s power to declare a state of emergency and promulgate ordinances under caretaker governments.
"We are working on how to do it (limit his authority) through bringing necessary changes to the constitution," the Daily Star today quoted committee''s co-chair Suranjit Sengupta as saying after a close door meeting of the panel.
He said parliamentary body earlier agreed in principle to limit the president''s power to declare a state of emergency and promulgate ordinances in absence of the elected government and parliament.
Sengupta, however, said a door should be kept open to tackle urgencies during a caretaker regime.
Under the existing constitutional provisions the president is a ceremonial head of the state requiring him to act in line with prime ministers advice. But he is empowered with sweeping authority to act independently during the non-party interim government installed in every five years for 90 days to conduct general elections.
The parliamentary move is visibly prompted by the example of the past interim regime when the then president Iajudin Ahmed declared the state of emergency amid a heightened political tension in 2007.
The army-backed caretaker regime at that time ran the country for two years until December 2008 elections brought the ruling Awami League to power.
Newspaper reports quoting members of the parliamentary committee said their meeting yesterday decided to insert some conditions to restrict the president''s authority to promulgate ordinances in absence of a parliament.
The parliamentary development came as hearing on an appeal was underway in the Supreme Court against a 2004 High Court verdict declaring lawful the 13th amendment to the constitution introducing the non-party caretaker government in 1996.
Senior Supreme Court lawyers Rafique-ul Huq and M Zahir yesterday told the apex court that the caretaker government system should be revised by dropping the provision for appointing former Supreme Court judges as chief adviser or adviser of the interim non-party administration.
They came up with the opinion as "amici curiae" or "friend of the court" saying that the system of holding national elections under the caretaker government was still a necessity in Bangladesh but it needed a revision in the interest of the democracy and the judiciary.
The last chief justice or his predecessors are made chief adviser or heads of government of the interim regime under the existing system.
