Court Correspondent

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday morning adjourned for two weeks its hearing on review petitions that challenge the 2011 cancellation of caretaker government system.

The three-member bench led by Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam issued the order in this regard.

Following the ouster of Awami League dictatorship in August last year, five prominent personalities, one freedom fighter and two top politicians from BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami filed four separate writ petitions challenging the cancellation of the caretaker government system.

In 1996, the caretaker government was introduced under the 13th Amendment to the Constitution after the then Awami League-led opposition alliance waged a mass movement demanding general elections be held neutrally and not under the incumbent BNP administration.

The Awami League (AL) won the elections, the first held under a caretaker government in Bangladesh, and during the AL govt’s five-year term three lawyers filed a writ with the High Court to scrap the caretaker government system.

Five years later, during BNP’s second term in leading a national government, the High Court dismissed the writs, declaring the caretaker government scheme as legal. But, there was room for appealing against the High Court verdict.

In May 2011, the Appellate Division accepted the appeal and issued a verdict for scrapping the caretaker government system. The then Awami League-led government promptly passed through a law to scrap the system, despite the Chief Justice noting the system should be kept for 10 more years.

The end to the caretaker government system paved the way for the Awami League to rig three consecutive general elections and consolidate power undemocratically for over 15 years.