Bangladesh
Leave To Appeal 290 MP's oath valid, leave to appeal dismissed
Own Correspondent, Dhaka, 1 August 2023: The leave-to appeal filed against the dismissal of the writ challenging the validity of the oath of 290 MPs elected to the 11th National Parliament for taking the oath before the end of the 10th National Parliament has also been dismissed.
The full bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Hasan Faiz Siddiqui passed the order on Tuesday. Barrister AM Mahabub Uddin Khokon was in the court hearing on behalf of the writ. Attorney General AM Amin Uddin appeared for the state.
In February 2019, the High Court dismissed the writs regarding the invalidity of the oath taken by 290 parliamentarians and the validity of their tenure after winning the 11th National Assembly elections. The judgment was appealed to the Appellate Division in September of the same year.
But so far it has not been taken to hear it. After more than four years, Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon, Joint Secretary General of BNP, took the initiative to hear the writ. Accordingly, the application came up for hearing in the Chamber Court of the Appellate Division on June 11 last year. Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon himself was in favor of the application in that court. Attorney General AM Amin Uddin appeared for the state.
On that day, Mahbub Uddin Khokon said, they presented the application to fix the date of writ hearing. However, as the Attorney General asked for time, the next day, on June 12 of that year, the application was again on the agenda.
On January 3, 2019, 290 members of the 11th National Parliament took oath. Before this, the 10th National Parliament election was held on January 5, 2014. Those elected were sworn in on January 9 of that year. The first meeting of that Parliament was held on January 29 of the same year.
According to Article 72 (3) of the Constitution, the term of Parliament shall be five years from the first sitting of Parliament. Therefore, the term of the 10th parliament has not ended. The tenth parliament was sworn in before the end of its term. Pro-BNP lawyer Taherul Islam Touhid filed a petition in the High Court regarding the validity of the oath taken by 290 members of the 11th parliament.
The writ sought the direction of the High Court to cancel the oath of the MPs and publish the gazette. Along with that, it is said in the writ petition that the newly elected members of the 11th Parliament have violated the constitution by taking oath before the end of the term of the 10th National Parliament. After hearing that writ, the High Court dismissed the writ filed on February 18, 2019 challenging the validity of the oath taken by the elected members of the 11th National Parliament.
