Sixteenth Amendment of the Constitution of Bangladesh: A Governance Perspective

Fairooz Binte Hafiz, Nahin Rahman

Abstract: Historically, it is perceived that the constitutional amendments of Bangladesh have been guided by a single principle - the political interest of the ruling party. Thus, every constitutional amendment has specific perspectives to address the needs of the State machinery as well as unique characteristics to influence the governance process. The latest amendment of the constitution of Bangladesh, the Sixteen Amendment, brought a fundamental change in the constitution of Bangladesh by initiating a move towards establishing prime supremacy of the parliament over judiciary. Recently, the Supreme Court of the country has declared the amendment unconstitutional and illegal. Here, in this article an attempt has been made to explore the distinct features of the Sixteenth Amendment of the Bangladesh Constitution and its impact on governance.

Keywords: Constitutional Amendment, Governance, Independence of Judiciary, Impeachment