Bangladesh HC questions legality of speaker administering oath to president

The High Court has issued a rule asking why the administration of the presidential oath of office by the parliament's speaker should not be declared illegal.

On Tuesday, the bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayet Hossain ordered the relevant authorities to respond to the rule within four weeks after a preliminary hearing on a writ petition related to the matter.

"The original Constitution of Bangladesh mandated that the president be sworn in by the chief justice. However, a later constitutional amendment introduced the provision that allows the speaker to administer the oath to the president," said Advocate Omar Faruk, who presented the petition in court.

"In our petition, we have requested that the president be sworn in by the chief justice, just as the president administers the oath to the chief justice."

On Monday, lyricist Shahidullah Farazi filed a writ petition challenging the legality of the president being sworn in by the speaker of the parliament.

The writ petition lists the law secretary, the cabinet secretary, and the Supreme Court’s registrar general as respondents.