SC yet to settle CHT regional council issue

Nine years have passed after two separate appeals were filed with the Supreme Court's Appellate Division challenging the High Court verdict that declared the Chattogram Hill Tracts Regional Council illegal and unconstitutional.

But the apex court could not settle the issue regarding the legality of CHT Regional Council as the parties concerned of the case have not apparently taken any extensive move for hearing the appeals for their disposal.

A long hearing is needed for the Appellate Division to settle the issue of CHT Regional Council as the matter is related with historical, political and constitutional aspects, Belayet Hossain, a lawyer concerned of the case, told The Daily Star on November 29.

Therefore, there is no possibility of quick settlement of this issue, as the apex court is now running judicial functions through the virtual system due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, he added.

Belayet is one of the counsels for the writ petitioners who had challenged the legality of the CHT Regional Council at the HC.

The lawyer said Abdur Razzaq, the principal counsel for the petitioners, was not in the country.

Razzaq, who is set to place arguments on behalf of the writ petitioners, is now in London on personal business. But it could not be known when he will come back to the country, he said.

The CHT Regional Council has been functioning under the leadership of Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma, popularly known as Santu Larma, since its formation in 1999 after the signing of the historic CHT Peace Accord 1997.

Following the two writ petitions filed by Bangalee settler M Badiuzzaman and the SC's pro-Jamaat-e-Islami lawyer Tajul Islam on April 13, 2010, the HC declared the CHT Regional Council Act 1998 illegal and unconstitutional.

In the verdict, the HC said the unitary character of the state, which is the basic feature of the constitution, has been hampered due to its formation. The council can now run since the HC verdict has been halted following a stay order from the Appellate Division.

In 2011, the government and the CHT Regional Council filed two separate appeals with the SC challenging the HC judgment, saying that the CHT Regional Council is a statutory authority to facilitate the functions of three hill district councils and was formed in line with the constitution.

The provisions of the CHT Regional Council Act 1998, which have been declared unconstitutional by the HC, are actually protected by the constitution, as it provides for affirmative action in favour of a disadvantaged section of the population, they said in the appeals.

On March 3, 2011, the Appellate Division upheld its chamber judge's stay order and allowed the government and Santu Larma to move separate appeals before it against the HC verdict.

The appeals had come up in the cause list of the Appellate Division on March 6, 2018, for their hearing.

The same day, a four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain adjourned hearing of the appeals for four weeks after the then Additional Attorney General Murad Reza prayed for time to take preparation for placing arguments on the issue.

Later, the appeals were not heard by the apex court as none of the parties took any move for hearing the matter.

Murad Reza resigned from his post on October 11 this year.

Contacted, Attorney General AM Amin Uddin, who was appointed to the post on October 8 this year, told this paper on November 29 that his office would place arguments before the Appellate Division in support of the appeals when these would come up before the apex court serially.

The attorney general said his office would not take any initiative for hearing of the appeals at this moment as the apex court is not hearing and disposing of the old cases due to the pandemic.

SC lawyer Tajul Islam, one of the writ petitioners, said they would not take any initiative for hearing the appeals as the government, which is the main respondent to the case and has filed the appeal against the HC judgment, is not so serious about quick hearing and disposal of the appeals.

The government should take steps for hearing the appeals, he added.