The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court today fixed November 20 for the delivery of its verdict on the appeals and review petitions against its 2011 judgement that scrapped the non-party caretaker government system.

A seven-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, set the date after concluding hearings on the appeals and review petitions. The apex court held hearings on those for 10 working days.

After hearing some review petitions, the Appellate Division on August 27 allowed the BNP and five citizens to move two separate appeals before the court against its verdict that cancelled the 13th amendment to the constitution, which had introduced the caretaker government system in 1996.

BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, five citizens, freedom fighter Mofazzal Islam of Naogaon, and a few rights organisations lodged the review petitions last year challenging the 2011 verdict.

The first review petition was filed by five citizens, including Badiul Alam Majumdar, secretary of rights organisation Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan), on August 27 last year. They argued that the caretaker government system had been introduced through political consensus and had thus become a basic structure of the constitution, which cannot be abolished.

The Appellate Division verdict that cancelled the 13th amendment is self-contradictory, they said, as the short verdict allowed the 10th and 11th parliamentary elections to be held under the caretaker government, but this directive was not mentioned in the full judgement.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Miah Golam Parwar filed separate review petitions on October 16 and 23 last year, respectively.

Mofazzal Islam also submitted two petitions on the matter, arguing that the elections in 2014, 2018, and 2024 proved that free and fair polls were not possible under political governments.

The filing of the review petitions came in the wake of the student-led uprising that ousted the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government on August 5 last year, leading to her fleeing to India and the subsequent formation of an interim government under Professor Muhammad Yunus on August 8 last year.

A seven-judge full bench of the Appellate Division, headed by the then Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque, declared by majority view on May 10, 2011, that the 13th amendment to the constitution (related to the caretaker government system) was null and void.

Following the verdict, the 15th Amendment Act was passed by the National Parliament on June 30, 2011, which abolished the caretaker government system among other changes. A gazette notification to this effect was published on July 3, 2011.

Senior lawyer Sharif Bhuiyan appeared for the five citizens, while senior lawyers Zainul Abedin, Md Badruddoza Badal, and Md Ruhul Quddus Kazal argued for the BNP. Advocate Mohammad Shishir Manir represented Jamaat-e-Islami, lawyer Shahriar Kabir represented Mofazzal Islam, and lawyers Ehsan A Siddiq and Imran Siddiq stood for the rights organisations. Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman and Additional Attorney General Aneek R Haque represented the state during the hearings.