Attorney General: Article 70 of The Constitution Needs Amendment

Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman said, “Not as the Attorney General, I think Article 70 of the constitution needs to be amended. ’

Explaining why he wants the amendment of the article, Asaduzzaman said, “According to Article 70, MPs cannot do floor crossing. No MP can give his opinion independently outside the party decision in parliament. In effect, Bangladesh’s legislature, executive, and judiciary came under one person’s control due to Article 70. Those in the constitutional reform committee will see this. I think Article 70 needs to be reformed. ’

However, the interim government has not yet discussed constitutional reform with him. The attorney general said no hint was given.

The chief law officer of the state said this on Thursday (September 12) while sitting in his office at the Attorney General’s office on the Supreme Court premises.

According to Article 70 of the Constitution, “A person elected as a member of Parliament at an election at which he was nominated as a candidate by a political party shall vacate his seat if he (a) resigns from that party or (b) votes in Parliament against that party, but shall not thereby be disqualified for being a member at any subsequent election.” ’

In a televised address to the nation on September 11, the head of the interim government, Muhammad Yunus, announced the formation of a commission to reform six issues. Justice Shah Abu Nayeem Mominur Rahman will head the Judicial Reform Commission, while Dr Shahdeen Malik will head the Constitution Reform Commission. Dr. Yunus said that the work would start on October 1.

In the meantime, the state’s Chief Law Officer, Asaduzzaman, discussed reforming the judiciary and the constitution.

The judiciary needs to be reformed

Regarding the reform initiative of the Chief Adviser, he said, “The initiative taken by the Chief Adviser has been taken by holding the hopes and aspirations of the people. There is a demand among the people about the judiciary and constitutional reform. He has taken the initiative with that demand.I think it’s a positive initiative. ’

Explaining why the judiciary needs to be reformed, the attorney general said, “This is why the judiciary is one of the three state organs. Not only in Bangladesh, the concept of the judiciary worldwide is that the judiciary’s power is sovereign. Starting from the judges of the Supreme Court, the trial court exercises sovereign power. There is no scope to mix the officials of the judiciary with other officials and employees of the republic. But in the past, it has been seen that the judiciary has been made controversial. Those who are involved in the killing of democracy, those who have committed murder, those who have looted, it has been seen that the judiciary has played a big role in them. Keeping these issues in mind, the judiciary needs to be reformed. ’

In this Constitution, the power of the President is very minimal

Regarding the judicial officers, the attorney general said, “The reality of Bangladesh that we have seen in the past days, they (judges of subordinate courts) assumed that they are employees of the republic. They forgot that they exercised the sovereign power of the Republic. ’

About the power of the President, Asaduzzaman said, “The President of Bangladesh has no constitutional power. There are two powers. One is to appoint the Chief Justice, and the other is to appoint the Prime Minister. However, the president cannot appoint anyone as prime minister. You can appoint whoever the majority of the parliament says. Even in appointing the Chief Justice, the President could not exercise his powers beyond the government’s decision. As a result, those constitutional experts know how powerful the President of Bangladesh is constitutional. As Attorney General, I can say that the power of the President is very minimal in this Constitution.

“I want the judiciary to stand by establishing the people’s rights by exercising the republic’s sovereign power. Let the judiciary abide by constitutional provisions and legal provisions. I think this initiative (reform initiative) is a very good initiative. Everyone should work together with this initiative. I will try to play as much of my role as attorney general.