Plea to review SC verdict cancelling caretaker govt system

A petition was filed on Tuesday with the apex court, pleading to review an Appellate Division judgment that scrapped the 13th amendment to the constitution which allowed the formation of a neutral caretaker government for holding national polls.

Five eminent citizens including rights organisation Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan) secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar filed the plea. The other petitioners are- Tofayel Ahmed, M Hafiz Uddin Khan, Jobairul Haque Bhuiyan and Jahura Rahman.

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on May 10, 2011, declared illegal the 13th Amendment to the Constitution that introduced the caretaker government system.

The seven-member apex court full bench headed by Chief Justice A B M Khairul Haque, delivered the judgment by a majority view upon a petition against a previous High Court verdict that rejected an appeal challenging the 13th Amendment to the constitution.

But the judgement had said the tenth and eleventh parliamentary elections could be held under the caretaker government to evade any chaotic situation.

The Jatiya Sangsad in 1996 amended the constitution abolishing the caretaker government system. 

The system prescribes installation of a non-party and non- elected caretaker government to power to oversee general elections at the end of the tenure of an elected government.