Opposition to Skip JS Session Beginning Today
HC verdict on Speaker to set Sangsad tone
Govt appeals against the judgment
The parliamentary session that begins today may witness a heated discussion on a recent High Court verdict delivered in response to the Speaker's dubbing the comments of an HC judge as a violation of the constitution.
Speaker Abdul Hamid in parliament on June 18 said the HC judge (Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik) had violated the constitution by making "derogatory remarks" about the Jatiya Sangsad and its Speaker.
Later on July 24, Justice Hasan Foez Siddique and Justice ABM Altaf Hossain in a judgment said the Speaker's observation had no legal effect and was baseless in the eye of law.
Irked by this, some MPs of the ruling Awami League-led grand alliance on Sunday held a meeting with Abdul Hamid and convinced him to let MPs speak on the issue in the House, said three MPs who were present at the meeting.
All this began on May 29 when the Speaker told the House that the courts were neutral and independent, but it looked odd when they took quick decisions to solve their own problems while people had to wait for years for justice. The day would come when people would stand against the courts, he added.
Justice Manik on June 5 observed that the Speaker had committed an offence tantamount to sedition.
"The verdict [on July 24] hurt MPs' sentiment. So, it is difficult to prevent them from speaking on it," AL MP Suranjit Sengupta told The Daily Star yesterday.
The BNP-led opposition MPs, however, will not join the session this afternoon.
"The party high commands asked us to stay in the constituency and work for people," BNP MP Nazrul Islam Manju said over the phone.
APPEAL AGAINST VERDICT
The government yesterday filed an appeal seeking a stay order on the HC's July 24 verdict. After a brief hearing, chamber judge of the Supreme Court Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana sent the petition to the full bench of the Appellate Division and fixed September 30 for its hearing.
Upon directives from the law ministry, the attorney general's office filed the leave to appeal with the Appellate Division, challenging the HC verdict on six grounds.
SC lawyer AKM Shafiuddin, also a former additional HC judge, who on July 18 filed a writ petition against the Speaker's ruling of that day, filed another petition with the SC, seeking notification before the hearing on the leave to appeal petition.
He in the earlier petition prayed to the HC to issue a rule upon the Speaker, secretaries to parliament and the law ministry to explain why the Speaker's ruling should not be declared illegal.
The HC bench of Justice Hasan Foez Siddique and Justice ABM Altaf Hossain on August 27 released the full text of their July 24 judgement.
During yesterday's hearing, Additional Attorney General MK Rahman told the court that there were some anomalies in the HC verdict since the court had neither issued any rule upon the government nor heard arguments from the respondents properly before disposing of the writ petition.
Since the HC had not passed any directive in the verdict, a stay order was not needed, said KM Saifuddin, who stood for the writ petitioner, opposing the leave to appeal.
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