Constitutionality and Unconstitutionality of 16th Amendment

Abstract

The first constitution of Bangladesh, drafted in 1972, gave the Parliament the power to impeach the judges of the Supreme Court (SC). Then, following the fourth amendment, the President of Bangladesh was vested with this power. However, the Fifth Amendment legalized the formation of a Supreme Judicial Council (SJC). And the SJC, consisting of the Chief Justice and two next senior-most judges of the Supreme Court, was empowered to impeach judges on the grounds of proven misbehavior or incapacity. There are some issues in constitutional law which cannot be answered in one word, for example, what would be the meaning of ‘gross misconduct’. The paper finds out that the16th amendment of the Constitution of Bangladeshis controversial to separation of power and independence of judiciary, in another sense the 16th amendment is reflection of check and balance of the organs of the state. But for the reason of political violence, the 16th amendment of the Constitution is impracticable to Bangladesh.