17th amendment’s legality challenged at HC
A writ petition was filed yesterday with the High Court (HC), challenging the legality of the constitution’s 17th amendment that extended reserved seat provision for women in parliament.
Petitioner Advocate Eunus Ali Akond, a lawyer at the Supreme Court, also urging the HC to stay the schedule for holding the upcoming election to the 50 reserved seats.
Citing from the petition, Eunus told The Daily Star that the constitution’s 17th amendment is contradictory to its article 11, which ensures elected representatives at all levels of the administration.
Article 11 says, “The Republic shall be a democracy in which fundamental human rights and freedoms and respect for the dignity and worth of the human person shall be guaranteed and in which effective participation by the people through their elected representatives in administration at all levels shall be ensured.”
The woman lawmakers for the reserved seats are not elected by the people. Rather, they are elected in the parliament unopposed, which is a violation of the constitution, Eunus said.
In the petition, Eunus urged the HC to make the speaker of Jatiya Sangsad and its secretary, secretaries to the ministries of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and Cabinet Division, and the chief election commissioner respondents to the rule.
The HC may hold hearing on the petition on Sunday, he told this correspondent.
On July 8, 2018, the reserved seat provision for women in parliament was extended for the next 25 years. The provision was previously in force for 10 years.
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