Bangladesh Italian Marble Works Ltd. v.

Government
of Bangladesh
Bangladesh Italian Marble Works Ltd. v. Government of Bangladesh is a case of the Appellate
Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. In a significant verdict in 2010, the court
overturned the fifth amendment to the Constitution of Bangladesh made in 1979; and
strengthened the secular democratic character of the Bangladeshi republic.

Facts Bangladesh Italian Marble Works

Ltd v. Government of Bangladesh
In 2000, the owner of the Moon Cinema Hall
Court Supreme Court of
in Dhaka filed a writ petition under Article
Bangladesh
102 of the constitution claiming that the
declaration of the cinema hall as an Court membership
"abandoned property" was unlawful. It sought
Judges sitting Chief Justice
a direction upon the government to return the
Mohammad Tafazzul
premises to their original owners. In that writ
Islam
petition, the petitioners challenged the Justice Mohammad
constitutionality of the Fifth Amendment Act Fazlul Karim
1979, which validated Martial Law Justice Mohammad
Proclamation Orders between 1975 and 1979. Abdul Matin

A verdict was reached on 29 August 2005 in Justice Bijan Kumar

Das
the Dhaka High Court, in which Justice A. B.
Justice Mohammad
M. Khairul Haque and Justice A. T. M. Fazle
Muzammel Hossain
Kabir declared the Fifth Amendment Act
Justice Surendra
1979 unlawful and directed the Government Kumar Sinha
of Bangladesh to return the Moon Cinema
Hall to its original owners. The erstwhile
Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led government appealed in the Supreme Court and obtained a
stay on the High Court's judgement. In 2009, the Awami League-led government withdrew the
state's appeal.[1]

Judgement

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court declared the Fifth Amendment to the
Constitution of Bangladesh null and void. It ruled that martial law was illegal and
unconstitutional. Hence, all martial law proclamations were also illegal.[2]
Significance

The verdict invalidated Proclamation Orders issued by the Chief Martial Law Administrator
between 1975 and 1979, including the removal of secularism as a fundamental principle from
the constitution. The verdict was implemented by the Fifteenth Amendment Act 2011 in the
Parliament of Bangladesh.

The verdict overturned earlier judicial precedents in Bangladesh and Pakistan, in which the
courts sought to support coups on the grounds of the doctrine of necessity. The verdict was
interpreted as a victory for democracy and parliamentary supremacy. Martial law was declared
to be illegal for good.[3]

See also

Federation of Pakistan v. Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan

Article 70 of the Constitution of Bangladesh

References

1. "5th Amendment: A critical analysis" (http://archive.thedailystar.net/law/2009/02/02/index.htm) .

Law & Our Rights. The Daily Star. Retrieved 2017-07-11.

2. "Microsoft Word - C.P. Nos. 1044 & 1045 of 2009 _5th Amendment_ Final 25.7.1..." (http://archive.th
edailystar.net/images/5thammendment.pdf) (PDF). Retrieved 2017-07-11.

3. Julfikar Ali Manik and Ashutosh Sarkar. "Martial law stays illegal for good" (http://www.thedailystar.
net/news-detail-261819) . The Daily Star. Retrieved 2017-07-11.