Scrapping of 16th amendment: SC fixes Aug 10 for hearing the review petition

The Supreme Court yesterday fixed August 10 for hearing on a five-and-half-year-old review petition challenging its verdict that scrapped the 16th amendment to the constitution which had empowered parliament to remove its judges for incapacity or misconduct.

A seven-member bench of the Appellate Division of the SC headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique set the date after Attorney General AM Amin Uddin placed the matter before it.

Contacted, the attorney general told The Daily Star that the review petition had been included in the Appellate Division's cause list long ago.

The apex court yesterday upgraded the list and fixed August 10 for hearing the petition, he added.

The government filed the 908-page review petition with the Appellate Division on December 24, 2017 outlining 94 grounds on which this court may consider the government's prayer for restoring the 16th amendment, cancelling the provision of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and striking out some of its observations.

The HC in May, 2016 declared the 16th amendment unconstitutional and void as it found the changes went against the principles of the separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary.

The government later filed an appeal against the HC verdict. On July 3 this year, the Appellate Division of the SC rejected the appeal and upheld the HC verdict.