The petition for a review of the Supreme Court verdict scrapping the 16th Amendment will be filed within this month, says Law Minister Anisul Huq.
After a meeting at the attorney general's office on Saturday, he told the media, "We have discussed and finalised the grounds for the petition, which will be filed this month."
The 16th Amendment to the Constitution had restored parliament’s powers to impeach higher court justices.
Last year, the High Court declared the amendment ‘illegal’ and the decision was upheld on Jul 3 by the Appellate Division. The full verdict was finally released by the Supreme Court on Aug 1.
Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha's observation on Bangladesh's politics, past dictatorships, election commission, corruption, governance and judiciary in the verdict has sparked sharp reactions from the Awami League.
Ruling party leaders accused Justice Sinha of 'belittling' the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in some of the observations.
The law minister had then told the parliament that a review petition would be filed and hoped the final verdict would come in the State's favour.
On Sep 14, lawmakers adopted a motion to take legal steps over the verdict after a five-hour discussion, in which Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and 17 other MPs took part.
Facing the criticism, Justice Sinha went on leave on Oct 3 and left the country for Australia after 10 days.
Before leaving, he issued a statement, saying the criticism over the verdict 'embarrassed' him.
A day after his departure, the Supreme Court in a rare statement described Justice Sinha's statement as 'misleading'.
According to it, Justice Sinha faces 11 specific charges, including graft, money laundering and moral lapse, for which his colleagues in the Appellate Division refused to work with him.
On Oct 20, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told the media that he has formed an 11-member panel to prepare for the hearing for the review.
On Saturday, Law Minister Huq held a meeting with that panel.
"It has been decided that the review petition will be filed this month," Attorney General Alam told bdnews24.com after the meeting.
