Election-time govt
High Court formula �unacceptable�
HC not a place to write novel: Suranjit
Countrys eminent jurists yesterday observed that the High Courts formulas and observation on an election-time government is unacceptable and anti-democratic. They said under which method the next two parliamentary elections should be held is a political matter and it should be resolved politically. As per the constitutional guidelines, the next general elections will be held under the management of the present government, they added.
They also said its up to the countrys political parties to accept or reject the formulas as its not a directive of the HC. Talking to The Independent, constitution expert, Shahdeen Malik said, Giving a formula on poll-time government is not a matter for the HC to decide. Its a political crisis, it should be resolved politically. So the High Courts intervention in this matter is not acceptable.
In an exclusive interview to a private television channel, Somoy, former Law Minister, Barrister Shafique Ahmed, said that doing anything beyond the constitution is unacceptable and anti-democratic.
Meanwhile, at a programme in the city, the Awami League Advisory Council member, Suranjit Sengupta, criticised the HC formulas and observations on poll-time government, describing it as irrelevant.
The court is not a place for writing a novel or a story. It should determine from the legal point of view what is legal and what is illegal, what is constitutional and what is unconstitutional and what is democratic or undemocratic. Therefore, I regret to say that the formulas the HC has proposed on election-time government are irrelevant, he said.
Suranjit, also the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law Ministry, came up with the statement at a discussion organised marking Bangabandhus 40th death anniversary at the Institution of Diploma Engineers in the city.
The government will do its work and the Supreme Court or the High Court will examine whether the work is anti-constitutional or not and then they should record their observation, he said.
The HC had offered two formulas for an interim government to assist the Election Commission to conduct the next two general elections. The first formula allows the incumbent PM to lead a poll-time cabinet of 50 ministers from all parties; the second provides the main opposition party with the opportunity to rule the country for the last one year of the five-year tenure of the Parliament.
The HC came up with these formulas and observations in its full judgment on the uncontested elections of 153 MPs in the 10th Parliamentary election held on Jan 5 last year. The full verdict was released last month.
