HC rule on ACC accountability provision
The High Court yesterday issued a rule asking the authorities concerned to explain why the provision of the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) Act on the accountability of the commissioners to the chairman should not be declared illegal.
In response to a writ petition, the HC bench comprising Justice Moinul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Ashraful Kamal issued the rule.
It asked the government to explain within four weeks why the provision, which is inconsistent with the ACCs basic principles and Act, should not be scrapped.
Secretaries to the president, cabinet, and ACC, and chairman and all commissioners of the anti graft body have been asked to reply to the rule within four weeks.
Supreme Court lawyer Md Kamal Hossain filed the petition challenging Section 12 (2) of the ACC Act 2004.
The section 12 (2) of the ACC Act 2004 says other commissioners shall carry out the duties entrusted to them under the overall supervision and control of the chairman and the commissioners shall be accountable to the chairman.
Section 5 of the ACC Act says the commission shall consist of three commissioners and the president shall appoint a chairman from among them.
Section 15 stipulates that all decision shall be taken at its meeting, the petitioner said.
Hossain also said that the ACC was an independent institution. But, if the commissioners are made accountable to the chairman, then the independent institutions activities will be disrupted, he added.
