Cabinet okays changes to bar council act
The cabinet yesterday approved the draft of Legal Practitioners and Bar Council (Amendment) Act, 2012, which strips Bangladesh Bar Council of its power to enroll law practitioners.
As per the amendment, a five-member enrolment committee will be formed with an Appellate Division judge as head.
The committee will be empowered to take decision on the enrollment of law practitioners, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told reporters at the Secretariat.
The attorney general, two High Court judges and a representative of the bar council will be the other members of the committee, he said.
At present, a three-member committee of the bar council takes decision about new enrolment.
Vice Chairman of Bangladesh Bar Council Khandker Mahbub Hossain said the proposed amendment was an attack on the Bar Council.
The government is going to amend the law to maim the Bar Council, which is a guardian and elected body of 46,000 lawyers of the country, he said.
Khandker Mahbub, also an adviser to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, said the Awami League-led government was doing so as most of its candidates lost in the recent Bar Council election.
He said they would launch a movement with the country's lawyers against the government's move after getting the copy of the amended law.
Attorney General and ex-officio chairman of Bar Council Mahbubey Alam said the government had proposed amendments to the Bar Council law to restore the previous provision of keeping judges in the enrolment committee.
The powers of Bar Council will not be damaged if judges are kept in the enrolment committee, he added.
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