Dhaka – A legal notice has been served on Sunday asking the Law Commission Chairman ABM Khairul Haque to withdraw his comments about the Supreme Court judgment on 16th Amendment to the Constitution.Supreme Court lawyer Advocate BM Sultan Mahmud sent the notice to the former chief justice and law commission chairman saying that legal action would be taken against Khairul Haque if the law commission chief would not withdraw his comments and apologise to the people within 24 hours.
In his notice, Sultan said that Justice Khairul Haque on August 9 at a press briefing commented on the issues which are out of “judicial norms and values”.
“At the briefing, you addressed the honorable Chief Justice of Bangladesh Mr Surendra Kumar Sinha as headmaster and other judges of the Supreme Court as students and you also told at the briefing that whether other judges are bound to listen to you (honorable chief justice of Bangladesh) which shocked me a lot,’’ legal notice said.
Sultan Mahmud also said Law Commission is an organisation made by the government and Justice Khairul Haque is a government servant as the chairman of the commission. “You (Khairul Haque) do not have any right to comment on any judgment and irrespective of any matter passed by the Supreme Court of Bangladesh,” he said in the notice.
In the notice, he also said, “The ex-chief justice ABM Khairul Haque made self-contradictory statements at the press briefing. You (Khairul Haque) he repealed the 5th, 7th and 13th amendment to the constitution but at that time you did not repeal the system of Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) rather you upheld it. Now, after passing so many days you are opposing the system of SJC and we are concerned that now you are planning for a dishonest purpose.”
The notice also alleged that the ex-chief justice had committed a judicial crime as he while delivering the judgment of 13th amendment case to the Constitution told that the successive national elections may be held under the system of non-party caretaker government but in the full judgment of the case the issue was avoided by him (Haque). “By repealing the caretaker government system you (Haque) infringed the voting rights of the people of the country. You put the country towards a deep destruction. Now, we are deeply in concern that you are doing a new conspiracy against the democratic rights of the people of Bangladesh,” according to the notice.
“Your comments at the briefing are derogatory and preconceived. You have told as like as political leader holding the chair of the law commission. Your comments have undermined the Supreme Court. Hence, you are requested to withdraw your comments and apologise to the people of Bangladesh within 24 hours from the time of receiving the notice. Otherwise, legal action will be taken against you,” the notice said.
Earlier on August 9, at a press briefing Law Commission Chairman ABM Khairul Haque strongly criticised the verdict, terming it misconceived, irrelevant and immature. – Staff Reporter
